


A Fleeting Dream

by parisienneheart



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: (duh), Action/Adventure, Bittersweet, Emotional, Fantasy, Final Fantasy X AU, M/M, Minor Character Death, Romance, death mention in general, just warning you, there will be tears
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-01
Updated: 2016-12-29
Packaged: 2018-09-03 17:20:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 48,534
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8722228
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/parisienneheart/pseuds/parisienneheart
Summary: Zayn glanced over at Niall and let his mouth tilt up into a smile. “Stay with me. Until the end, please.”His eyes still looked a bit sad, but Niall noticed a warmth behind them that was new, a certain glow. The hope was back in his eyes, and Niall had a feeling he might have had something to do with it. Regardless, it was good to see Zayn smiling again.Niall finally smiled back, letting his hand gently close over Zayn’s. “Not until the end. Always…”





	1. Otherworld

**Author's Note:**

> Niall is torn from his world and transported to a place far away from anything and anyone he knows, a land facing the devastation of a monstrous force. It is in this new land where he meets Zayn, a young summoner who has the world on his shoulders and a resolve to save his people. This is their story.
> 
> \--
> 
> First and foremost, this is a delayed birthday present for Pygmy!!!
> 
> A Final Fantasy X Ziall AU, as requested and done with nerdy enthusiasm, haha. I decided to split up the writing into 12 chapters/vignettes that I will post every other day, starting today, December 1st. If you’re familiar with FFX I hope you enjoy my ziall-fied homage to this wonderful game/story and for those who aren’t so familiar, I hope you enjoy the world that I have immersed Zayn and Niall (and the rest of 1d and surprise guests) into ^_^
> 
> (disclaimers and worldbuilding context in the end notes because I wrote too much intro)

Niall woke up with half his face splashed by salt water, making him cough and sputter once it got into his nostrils and throat. His vision cleared and he realized he had washed up on...some kind of rocks. His head was pounding and as he stood up, he could only see grey in the sky and dark water all around him.

Images, screams, and a deafening roar flashed in his mind. His heart shook as he remembered what happened before he got here… wherever “here” was. 

He was playing in a blitzball tournament--the Bressie Memorial cup--just going on about his usual business, meeting cute fans, talking to kids, and the whole stadium was getting revved up for the game--it was all going as well as normal--until he did a high jump out of the water and never landed back into the sphere.

Within minutes, buildings were broken and shattered, caught on fire, and Niall remembers the screams more than anything. Luckily, he was rescued by a mysterious man named Paul, a burly guy with a big sword who gave him a weapon for protection and left him with some cryptic words, “This is your story.”

And before he knew it, he was getting sucked into the air by this giant… alien… whale… thing… Niall just remembers how horrifying it looked when it was hovering over him so close and he could see all the gross skin and tentacles and—

“Yna oui ymm nekrd?”

Niall looked up from his perch on the submerged rock and saw a boy with long curly hair and brilliant green eyes peering over at him from a boat.

“Huh??”

“Oh, right… you probably don’t speak Al Bhed… Are you okay?” the boy asked

Niall sighed. “Yeah, I’m okay.”

The boy sent down a ladder from the boat’s edge, which Niall gladly took and climbed to get aboard the steel vessel. Once he flopped onto the deck, he leaned his head back against the frame.

“How did you get here?” the boy asked as he stared at Niall.

“I… don’t know… there was a giant whale monster thing… and it sucked me up and--I sound mental, don’t I?” Niall asked with a self deprecating laugh.

The boy blinked his bright eyes at Niall and shook his head. “No… It was Sin, wasn’t it?”

“Sin… right… that’s what Paul told me…” Niall said mostly to himself. Paul had shown up in the nick of time, and had fought off weird spawn-like monsters on the street as he and Niall ran through the broken, burning streets of the city. Paul seemed to know all about this giant monster named Sin, and come to think of it… where was Paul now?

“My name is Harry. What’s your name? Where are you from?” the boy quickly asked, bringing Niall back to the present.

“My name is Niall. And I’m from Zanarkand." 

Harry froze up. “Don’t joke like that. Come on, where are you from?”

Niall stood up, frown on his face. “Zanarkand! I was playing blitzball and then this huge thing attacked the city and… next thing I know I’m here!”

“That’s impossible… it sounds like…”

“Sounds like what?”

“That sounds like what happened a thousand years ago. Zanarkand’s been in ruins since then.”

Niall narrowed his eyes at Harry. “What?”

“Zanarkand is ancient... a holy place now for the followers of Yevon.”

“Followers of who?”

Harry tilted his head and stared at Niall. “…You really… believe you’re from Zanarkand…” 

“I am!” Niall retorted, feeling his breath quicken and his pulse pound. “I gotta… I gotta get home!”

He paced around the deck, biting at his fingernails as he tried to work out where he was and how he could possibly plan on getting home. Then he noticed Harry staring at him from the side, lips curved up, looking absolutely calm.

“Why are you smiling at me?” Niall irritably asked him. “I’m having a crisis!”

“Cause I’ve never met anyone like you before!” Harry said with a grin.

“You’re weird,” Niall replied.

Harry laughed. “Maybe… but at least I’m not the one saying I’m a blitzball player from Zanarkand!”

“But I am!” Niall shook his head. “Do you know how I can get back to Zanarkand?”

Harry cocked his head to the side and winced. “I… I’m not so sure you’d want to go there, the way it is now.”

“But I have to get home!” Niall felt his face grow hot with anxiety.

Harry put his hands up in defense. “Okay, okay… calm down… I’ll help you get home. But first, you should eat.”

Niall nodded. “Yeah, I am starving.”

Harry grinned at him and gestured for Niall to follow him back into the boat’s quarters, but as Niall took his first step, the boat jolted and trembled. The jolts kept coming, and Niall looked out at what they might have hit—when he saw giant tentacle looking things coming out from the water.

“Ahh—is it another monster?!” Niall yelped.

“It’s Sin!” Harry yelled. “Niall, get over here!”

Niall nodded, though the next big jolt sent him tumbling overboard and down into the water again. He got sucked into a whirlpool and dragged through the water by the current, until he lost consciousness.

 

~

 

When Niall woke up, he was floating in the water amongst a bright reef, sun drizzling down onto him. There was no boat in sight, and the atmosphere looked completely different from where he woke up before. The water here was bright blue and the island before him looked green and lush. Where had he ended up this time?

“Oi, can you give us back our ball?” Someone called from the nearby shore. Niall looked around him and saw a blitzball floating in the waves near him.

He smiled at the familiarity. At least he seemed to be somewhere blitzball existed—maybe these guys would know how he could get back home—and Harry was a weird person, for all Niall knew, he could have been lying or delusional about Zanarkand being ancient ruins.

“Sure, mate!” Niall replied as he swam toward the ball and then launched up from the water to give it a didactic punch and kick all the way back to shore.

“Whoa!” The guys on shore all gasped once they caught the ball. Niall swam to meet up with them and then shook his hair and clothes of all the water he took on from being in the ocean. He just remembered he was still wearing his bright yellow and black blitzball uniform.

“Bro, how did you do that?” asked the one who had first called to him. He looked like the leader, taking an authoritative stance with his arms crossed. Along with his piercing blue eyes and pointy, wild hair, it made him look like some wild little king.

Niall shortly laughed. “Easy, I can do it again!” He took the blitzball and balanced it on his foot, kicked it into the air, and then launched into a jump to kick the ball before somersaulting back onto the sand.

The leader of the guys had a wide smile on his face. Then he went over and grabbed Niall by the arm and neck and laughed, “That is wild! Are you on a blitzball team? You must be!”

Niall was humble, but still self aware--he has a famous face and even though he wasn’t the most talented player in the sport, let alone the team, he had made enough of a name for himself in past tournaments and he was signing autographs and getting fanmail all the time.

He also had a famous coach growing up, Bressie, the greatest Blitzball player of his time--and no one ever seemed to forget it. What happened to Bressie ten years ago had caused so much of a stir, that even after he grew up, it was hard for Niall to not be talked about in association to him. Niall hated it. He hated having to talk about Bressie.

Anyway, the fact that the guys on this island didn’t know who he was… Niall had to be a long way from home.

Niall rubbed a nervous hand in his hair. “Haha… yeah, I play for the Zanarkand Abes. What about you guys?”

They all looked confused at Niall’s words, then glanced worriedly at each other.

Niall swallowed. “Did I… say something wrong?” It was happening all over again.

“Hey, what’s your name?” the leader asked.

“Niall.”

“I’m Louis,” the leader replied. “These are my friends, Stan and Calvin.”

“So you for real do play on a blitzball team, right?” Calvin asked.

“Yeah, the Zanarkand Abes,” Niall repeated, feeling a bit embarrassed this time.

Louis gingerly smiled. “You know what? It doesn’t matter who you played for because you’re playing for us now!”

“Huh?”

“We’re the Besaid Aurochs!” Louis announced, placing his hands at his hips, his friends following in his lead. “We’re gonna play in the tournament at Luca. We could use someone with your skill!”

“Umm… well, I’m just trying to get back home, but—“

“Please! We can get you home right after, and we’ll even provide you meals and shelter!” Louis suggested.

Niall glanced at him with a smirk. “You’re desperate.”

Louis frowned. “No, we’re not.”

“Yes, we are,” Stan groaned. “The Besaid Aurochs have never won a tournament… ever…”

Louis gave him a hostile glare. “We will this year! If we have someone like Niall on our team! So what do you say?”

“Mmm… I’ll think about it,” Niall said with a grin. “But… I do kind of need help getting home.”

Louis nodded quickly, a smile on his face after he got his preferred response from Niall. “Sure! I’ll take you into the village and then we can figure that out!”

He swung an arm around Niall’s neck and grinned. Then he whispered, “So… where are you really from?”

“Zanarkand…?” Niall answered with a gulp. Louis stared at him, a skeptical look on his face.

“You know, you can’t just go around and tell people that. It might upset someone, being such a holy place and all.”

Niall raised an eyebrow. “But… I really am from Zanarkand—I got attacked by this monster while I was playing blitzball and it destroyed the city and before I knew it I was getting sucked up and transported to… who knows where! In the middle of the ocean and with a strange boy who spoke another language and then we got attacked again and—now I washed up here!” Niall was breathing heavily by the time he finished his rant.

Louis’s look softened. “It’s okay lad… just breathe…” Niall closed his eyes and tried to breathe in more deeply. “Okay, well… It sounds like you met with Sin. And maybe you just got too close to Sin’s toxins, making your memory a bit fuzzy.”

“Huh? Toxins?” Niall questioned.

“Yeah… strange things happen to people who get close to Sin and survive,” Louis replied. “But thank Yevon you’re alive!”

Niall creased his brow. _Yevon?_

“So… Zanarkand… it was destroyed a thousand years ago…right?” Niall asked, testing Harry’s word.

“Yep! Everyone knows that,” Louis replied.

Niall felt his stomach sink. Where the hell was he? Was he in a nightmare?

“Come along, Niall!” Louis cheerfully told him. Niall swallowed and breathed in deep, telling himself that… as long as this was a dream, he would wake up… and so he might as well just roll with it. Dear god…he hoped this was all a bad dream…

Louis guided Niall through streams and jungle up to the village of Besaid, where there were a lot of colorful huts amidst palm trees. If Niall wasn’t so used to being in water all the time, the dense humidity would have shocked him, so different from the seaside metropolis of Zanarkand.

“We have a temple here in Besaid—that’s where the summoner is right now, working on getting the first Aeon,” Louis told him.

“The what… Summoner?” Niall muttered.

Louis sighed. “Oh. Guess you forgot about that too? Well, the summoner is the person who is going to defeat Sin. They do that with the powers they borrow from aeons, which they summon.”

Niall nodded. That seemed explainable enough, even though he wasn’t sure what an aeon was.

Louis showed him around the rest of his village and his home, and was on his way to introduce him to a group called the Crusaders when he bumped into a muscular young man who had a brown mohawk. He was wearing a tunic of leather and gave Louis a calm, steady wave as he saw him.

“Louis, what are you up to?”

Louis gestured to Niall with his thumb. “This is Niall, I found him on the beach—washed up after an encounter with Sin. I think he should join us, so we can take him back home, and… he’s gonna play blitzball with us in Luca!”

Louis flashed the young man a grin, who responded with a fond roll of his eyes and a smirk. “You roped him into it? He must be really good.”

“He is, you should have seen him, Liam! Oh, Niall! This is Liam, Liam… meet Niall.” Louis got out of the way and let Niall step forward to shake hands with Liam.

“Hi, nice to meet you.”

Liam nodded. “So where are you headed back to?”

“Za—“ Niall stopped as soon as he saw Louis shake his head. “I… I’m not really sure.”

“He got exposed to Sin’s toxins, so he can’t remember much about anything right now,” Louis explained.

Liam frowned and nodded. “That’s a shame. We’ll do our best to get you home, Niall.” Then he turned to Louis. “I’m gonna go to the temple, check in on our new summoner’s progress."

“You think I should come, too?” Louis asked.

Liam shook his head. “No, at least… I hope it doesn’t come to that.”

Louis nodded as Liam left with a polite nod of his own.

Niall then followed Louis back to his home, where he gave him something to eat. Niall looked around at the hut, noting all the ways it seemed to be put together by hand, made of cloth and wood… so primitive. Then he saw sphere-like things that reminded him of snow globes, but they looked a bit technological, they had images of people on them.

“So you and Liam are friends?” Niall asked as he noted an image of the two of them in one of those globes.

Louis smiled. “Yeah, Liam and I grew up together--and eventually we became friends with Zayn, who you’ll eventually meet too!” He handed Niall one of those orbs that seemed to have a moving picture, like a small tv screen, but it kept looping back every few seconds.

It was three teenage boys. Niall could tell which one was Louis, with his sharp teeth and sharp hair as he swung an arm around a boy who was taller than him, who had mellow brown eyes and wavy hair that covered his eyes, and then the third had grabbed onto Louis’s shoulder and was grinning towards the camera, too. He had dark hair and darker features than the other two, and he was scrawny and lean, just like Louis. They all looked so happy.

“We are all the best of friends… and you might think Liam and I make an odd pair, Liam being so conscientious and all, and me being a bit more… adventurous… but it’s really Zayn who came in and balanced us out. We took him in after his father passed away, ten years ago. I was an orphan, too, when Liam’s family took me in,” Louis said with a sad face, but a smile returned in a second. “So they’re really like my family!”

Niall nodded, a sad look on his brow.

“What about you, Niall? You got family?”

“Yeah… Dad and Mum… though they’re separated, and I have an older brother Greg, who hasn’t been home for years. I was moved out for two years, too.”

Niall got sad then… realizing he had never been able to check if his dad was okay after the catastrophe, but… if Louis and Harry were both right and they were a thousand years into the future… how would he even go about doing that?

Louis clapped a hand on Niall’s shoulder. “Don’t worry, I’ll try and get you home, Nialler! Can I call you Nialler?”

“Yeah sure,” Niall told him with a grin.

“Well, Nialler, you should get some sleep. You look like you’ve had it rough.”

Niall laughed bashfully. “Yeah… that would be good.”

 

~

 

In the morning, Niall awoke to hushed whispers. He was sleeping in Louis’s room, but there was only a curtain separating him from the ‘living room’.

He heard an unfamiliar voice say, “Louis, this is disconcerting--if the summoner doesn’t complete the process soon… I fear…”

“You fear what?” Louis replied.

“It’s almost been a day! It’s never taken any summoner this long to complete it…”

“It’ll be fine. We’ll just...wait a few more hours… Liam is there now, anyway.”

“I pray to Yevon that you are right…”

Louis sighed.

Niall moved the thin sheet from his body and sat up, meeting Louis’s gaze. “Is everything alright?”

Louis kept his head down. “Just… summoner business… You see, I’m a guardian and the summoner has to go through a ritual and pray to the Fayth to get their first aeon and become an official summoner… I’m not making any sense for you, am I?”

Niall shook his head with a purse of his lips.

Louis grinned, then ruffled a hand through Niall’s hair. “Come along, then. I’ll take you to the temple.”

It was early morning when Louis led Niall to the big stone temple, and inside it was dark, full of lamps and the echoes of hymns. Old men praying among huge statues of men in strange-looking robes. Niall was glancing at one when an old man approached him.

“This statue is finally finished! Commemorating Lord Yaser, the High Summoner who defeated Sin and brought the Calm ten years ago!”

“Defeated Sin…? But Sin’s still out there…” Niall mused out loud.

Louis awkwardly coughed. “Don’t mind him… he got exposed to Sin’s toxins and… he’s lost a bit of his memory.”

“Ah…” The old men still glanced at Niall like he was crazy. “Louis, perhaps you should check in on the summoner. It’s not looking good.”

Louis pursed his lips into a scowl. “You know I can’t do that… otherwise...he’d have to try and do it again, and after this long…”

“So you are worried, too?”

“Well… of course I’m worried, but he’ll be okay!” Louis said, his eyes narrowing in a fierce expression.

“It might be better off if the summoner doesn’t complete the ritual, at this rate…”

“Fine, I’ll go and meet with Liam, but I won’t interrupt the summoner,” Louis said with a sigh. “He will complete the ritual. I’ll be back, Niall.” Then Louis walked through the stairs into a dark corridor.

“It’s been a day… I hope the summoner is alright…” one of the old men mused as the lines in his brow deepened.

“You sound as if this could be dangerous?” Niall asked.

“The process itself is meant to test a summoner’s strength and draw out their energy, but after this long… I fear their life may be at stake…”

Niall furrowed his brow. “Hey, if it’s a risk to their life… someone should go and stop it!”

“Only guardians are allowed access to the summoner’s chamber. Who are you…?”

Niall swallowed and quieted up. When the priests or whatever they were turned back to each other and began speaking again, Niall quickly and quietly made his way through the open corridor.

“Stop! You mustn’t go against the sacred precepts!”

Niall rolled his eyes. “I don’t care about your precepts!”

He ran deeper into the temple where he had seen Louis go, and somewhat regretted his actions when he was met with strange symbols and spheres that he had to strategically place in order to give him access to the summoner’s chamber. He couldn’t turn back now, though.

After quickly figuring out the puzzle and opening the way to the chamber, Niall ran inside, hoping he would make it in time. It was a large, circular chamber with a staircase at one end and a bunch of different tapestries, lanterns, and stones all around--like something he’d only read or watched in a fantasy story. Liam and Louis were waiting at the bottom of the stairs with their arms crossed, looking solemn.

“What are you doing down here? You’re not allowed to be here,” Liam nearly hissed.

“I… I had to see if the summoner was okay. They said, that, uh, well that… it could be dangerous if--”

“We can’t go inside. Even if we want to,” Louis muttered. He looked a bit worried.

Liam was going to say something else when the door at the top of the stairs opened.

Niall turned his attention to the portal above the stairs and saw a shadowy figure emerge from a bright light, someone who looked like they were dressed in robes. They were staggering, it seemed like, and once the light subsided, Niall could see all the vibrant colors this person was wearing. A long, thin, and intricately embroidered robe that was violet and gold, one sleeve pushed up to the summoner’s elbow, showing off brightly colored bracelets, and the other sleeve so big that it covered part of his hand. Under the open robe he wore a white vest top, showing off the chains and necklaces adorning his partially exposed tan chest, and he wore matching violet trousers tucked into black boots. He had several rings on his hands and a bright multi-colored earring dangling from one ear behind his neck-length dark hair, which was full and soft-looking, wavy at the ends, keeping his face hidden. He stepped down the stairs, though only a second later he staggered and fell forward.

Niall gasped and nearly jumped to go catch him, but Liam got there first, preventing the summoner from hitting the ground and cradling him in his hold.

“Zayn... Are you alright?” Liam asked.

Zayn, the summoner, glanced up to Liam with tired, half-lidded eyes. “Yes, thank you, Liam.”

Zayn motioned for Liam to step aside and finally stood upright, brushing the hair back from his face--which might have been even more amazing than his clothes. His features were somehow sharp and soft at the same time, his long eyebrows framing dark eyes--and Niall never thought he’d ever noticed long eyelashes on anyone, but it was hard not to notice them on the summoner--his lips were plush and rosy, and the gold in his eyes seemed to match the glisten of everything else in this mystical chamber.

“I did it, I’ve become a summoner!” Zayn cheerfully said as he looked between Louis, Liam, and Niall.

When Zayn looked down and caught eyes with Niall, he smiled gracefully. Niall was speechless. He hadn’t thought a summoner would be this young... or this beautiful.

Liam offered Zayn an arm to grab onto as he descended the rest of the stairs, though Zayn politely refused.

Louis met the summoner at the bottom of the stairs with a smile and a brief hug. “Knew you could do it!”

Zayn smiled back, then he looked past Louis. “Who’s this?”

“Uh…” Niall awkwardly started. “I just wanted to check if you were okay. Those old geezers back there were saying things like it might be dangerous if it takes a summoner too long to do the ritual and I got worried and, uh, ha…”

Liam bit his lip, looking stressed. Louis looked a bit uneasy, though he smiled at Niall.

Zayn didn’t seem to react like Niall was an idiot, which made Niall feel a bit more at ease. He had a calm gaze, though friendly, and he seemed to seriously listen to every single word Niall said as he nodded.

“This is Niall. We found him washed up on the beach yesterday, and he’s a blitzball player,” Louis provided.

The summoner smiled and then made a quick bow. “It’s nice to meet you, Niall. I’m Zayn." 

“At least make him call you _Lord_ Zayn. You’re a summoner now,” Liam chastised.

“You’ll have to excuse Liam. He’s a bit uptight sometimes,” Zayn said with a wink. “Please, just call me Zayn.”

Niall grinned, while Liam grumbled. Louis laughed. “Well, it’s true, Liam!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *story/universe disclaimer #1: people in this game can breathe underwater for a really long time... and I mean... a reaaaaaaaalllly long time. And I only say that because it's going to come up. and no, I have no good explanation for it because it's never explained in FFX lmao
> 
> *story/universe disclaimer #2: I will not be explaining blitzball or its rules in this fic because I am specifically focusing on ziall (and be forewarned that.. I might not get into worldbuilding as much as ziall relationship building throughout this au... but if you want to know more... ya'll can watch FFX's movie playthrough on youtube or play the game :D)--but what you should know is that blitzball is a water sport usually played underwater (in giant water globes).
> 
> *AN ACTUAL IMPORTANT DISCLAIMER: this is a work of transformative fiction and not connected to the real people certain characters are based on. I also do not claim to own the story/material this fic universe is based on.


	2. The Pilgrimage Begins

Luckily for Niall, he didn’t get into trouble for breaking the ‘sacred’ rules, although he did receive many dirty looks from the people at the temple and he had a feeling he was banned from setting foot in that place ever again.

“Eh, don’t pay them any mind, Niall--we’ll just tell ‘em how your memory is a bit fuzzy,” Louis said as he clapped a hand on his shoulder.

Niall nodded, though it still bothered him that Louis was using that explanation for his confusion at a world he knows nothing of. He supposed it was better than trying to stick by the truth, which would make him seem like he’s really lost his mind to these people.

“So he’s your responsibility then, I take it?” Liam asked Louis as he brushed past.

Louis narrowed his eyes. “He didn’t do anything wrong, and Zayn’s all right, so no harm done!”

“Yet,” Liam said as he gathered close to Zayn.

Liam was Zayn’s other guardian apart from Louis—Louis explained to Niall that the summoner had to go on a big journey, a pilgrimage they called it, to pray at temples across Spira and attain each temple’s aeons from spiritual beings called Fayth. And guardians were people that went with the summoner on their pilgrimage to protect them and fight off monsters.

Niall thought that maybe Liam took his job as protector a bit too seriously…

Everyone followed Zayn out of the temple and into a crowd, who were waiting and rejoicing at the completion of his ritual.

“Did you really do it, Zayn?” a small child asked him

Zayn smiled, his eyes briefly scrunching. “Yes. Would you like to see?”

Everyone moved to open up a huge space for Zayn to stand at the center of, and Louis pulled in Niall by the arm. “You’re gonna want to watch this!”

Zayn had a calm, focused look on his face as he waved his staff, circling around by twirling his wrist, and then swinging it in a grand movement.

Just then, something flashed bright and burst out of the sky, and Niall shielded his eyes until the brightness was shadowed by--a really large bird?? The crowd gasped and Niall’s jaw dropped. Louis noticed and laughed.

The vibrantly colored creature must have been as tall as a house, its huge, horned wings flapping the air and its talons looking very dangerous with their size and sharpness. But it rested on the ground as it looked at Zayn, and Niall was almost scared for Zayn, how close he was to its sharp beak.

But Zayn gently smiled and tentatively held out a palm to the creature as he bowed, then stood still. “Hello, Valefor. My name is Zayn.”

Valefor looked at Zayn, then back to his hand, and blinked, edging its face forward. Zayn took a small step forward and kept his hand steady, until Valefor leaned in and allowed Zayn to stroke the feathers alongside its face. Zayn’s smile grew as he continued to stroke the bird, who looked content as it closed its eyes and leaned into Zayn’s palm.

“I look forward to starting this journey with you and becoming partners,” Zayn quietly told the bird, leaning in to rub the nose of its beak this time. Valefor made a low, though amicable, trill and it seemed to be in accord with Zayn’s words.

Niall felt a smile grow on his own face. There was something so gentle and pure about Zayn and this creature’s meeting. It was a wonderful thing to see the trust building between them so quickly.

Then Zayn narrowed his eyes at Valefor and raised an eyebrow. “If you’d like, show them what you can do!”

At that, Valefor flapped its wings and soared into the sky, doing a somersault and flying very low to the crowd, then making a playful caw.

Zayn had turned to the crowd, smiling with his teeth showing now, and when he caught Niall’s gaze, he smiled even wider, which made Niall’s smile widen, too.

 

~

 

Niall was biting his nails as he sat by the bonfire in the village later that night. He still wondered how in the hell he was supposed to get back to Zanarkand and he was wrapping his mind around all the strange things he’d witnessed today. It was definitely too long of an experience to be a dream and the mosquito bites were brutal—he’s sure he would have woken up in real life from the pain.

_So_ _…_ _this is not a dream. Shit_ _…_

“Oi, get over here!” Niall was literally yanked from his thoughts as Louis swung an arm around him and pulled him up by the chest. He dragged him over to meet four athletic looking guys.

“Want you boys to meet our newest teammate, Niall! He wanted to play in the tournament so bad, I just… had to let him join!” Louis said as he patted Niall forward.

Niall furrowed his brow and didn’t know what to say as a follow-up to Louis’s blatant lie that served to spare his team’s feelings.

“Louis said you played on a team?” one of them asked, a bit skeptically.

“Yeah, for the Zanarkand Abes," Niall replied.

The blitzball players narrowed their eyes in confusion and contempt, like Niall had said something offensive.

_Oh boy … here we go again..._

“Isn’t he hilarious?” Louis nervously laughed as he clapped a hand on Niall’s back, a bit too roughly. “He got a bit too close to Sin’s toxins in the water, so his head’s a bit messed up. But he’s the real deal! He’s coming with us to compete in Luca!”

“Haha, yeah the toxins got me a bit, uh, mixed up…” Niall awkwardly forced out a laugh.

Louis kept on chattering about blitzball as Niall looked around him, then caught sight of Zayn sitting on the ground and drinking tea with the elders he ran into earlier. He had a polite smile on his face, but he couldn’t imagine any time spent with those bitter old codgers being pleasant.

Zayn turned and noticed Niall--which made Niall jerk his head away, embarrassed about being caught staring.

He chanced another glance a few seconds later, and Zayn glanced his way once more. This time, Niall couldn’t look away and pressed his lips into a grin and tentatively waved at Zayn.

A real smile crept on Zayn’s lips as he picked up a hand to wave, too.

This was ridiculous--Niall should just go over there. He slipped away from Louis and the others, then walked to where Zayn was sitting.

“You, stay away from the summoner!” the old lady crowed.

“You heathen!” the old man spat out.

Niall frowned and was about to protest until Zayn stood up.

“It’s all right. He helped me earlier,” Zayn said. Niall was sure that wasn’t really true and he awkwardly ran a hand through his hair.

Zayn walked over to him, smiling. “Thank you for coming to help. I guess… I was a bit overconfident, I almost didn’t have the strength.”

Niall shook his head. “I--I didn’t really do anything,” he awkwardly laughed. “And… I think you did just fine!”

Zayn shortly smiled. “It was nice of you to come, anyway. The elders aren’t taking it too well, though,” he quietly laughed.

Niall laughed, genuinely this time. “Hey that, uh… aeon, bird thing… that was really cool! Amazing!”

Zayn’s eyes brightened. “Really? It was my first time actually summoning an aeon, and… it was…”

“It was wonderful!” Niall cut in. “I’ve never seen anything like it!”

Zayn grinned, then glanced down. “Hey, you think… I can become High Summoner?”

“Definitely,” Niall said, even though he wasn’t sure if he actually understood what that meant.

“Lord Zayn, you must get your rest!” one of the elders grumbled.

Zayn rolled his eyes and sighed. “Guess I have to go. Will I see you tomorrow? I think we’re going on the same boat.”

Niall sputtered, “Oh--of course! Yeah!”

Zayn grinned. “Maybe you can tell me about Zanarkand tomorrow.”

He turned away before Niall could say anything more. So Zayn believed him about being from Zanarkand? It was the first time Niall didn’t feel skepticism or mocking from someone who had heard it. It made him feel a bit more at ease, and he watched as Zayn went back to speak with the elders.

“Hey, I see those googly eyes, Zayn’s pretty stunning, isn’t he?” Louis said as he leaned his elbow on Niall’s shoulder.

“...Yeah, I guess…” Niall conceded, feeling his cheeks burn.

“Well, don’t get any ideas!” Louis chastised with a light smack on his rib. “He’s the summoner.”

“Yeah, I’m starting to think that phrase really just means ‘fuck off,’” Niall muttered.

Louis burst out into a laugh. “I really like you, Niall! But seriously… it’s not a good idea to go after Zayn.”

“Why?”

Louis gave him a stern raise of his eyebrow and didn’t say anymore.

“Fine, but… if he talks to me, I can’t ignore him,” Niall smirked.

 

~

 

Early in the morning, Niall was roused awake by Louis, who was buzzing with excitement and talking on and on about the blitzball tournament in Luca, which Niall supposed was like the world cup of blitzball in this world, which was called Spira.

Liam was practical and checked off his list of everything they would need to bring with them for the journey as they packed.

“I hope you’re ready to defend yourself,” Louis said as he handed Niall a sword that had a blade that looked like it was made of blue ice.

“Whoa…” Niall remarked as he took hold of it. “Thanks.”

“Yeah, you better be ready because we’re Zayn’s guardians, not yours,” Liam succinctly added.

Louis reached over and pinched Liam’s nipple. Liam yelped, “What did you do that for?!”

“Stop acting like a twat,” Louis said with a narrow of his eyes.

“I’m just—“

“Liam takes the pilgrimage very seriously, Niall. Don’t take offense. I’ll make sure nothing bad gets you.”

Niall smiled at Louis.

Liam frowned and sighed. “I’m sorry Niall, just… try your best not to get hurt. This is going to be a dangerous journey, and I will protect Zayn at all costs. But if I’m doing that, I can’t make sure everyone else is protected at the same time.”

Niall nodded in understanding. “It’s okay. I get it.”

The boat was waiting for the group down at the beach and Zayn had gone in early to pray at the temple, so they met him right outside of the building once they were all ready to walk down to shore.

When they met Zayn, he was towing a big luggage behind him and almost fell under the weight of it as he dragged it down the steps of the temple.

“We’ll need to travel a bit lighter, Zayn,” Louis told him.

“This isn’t for me, it’s gifts for all the temples we’ll have to visit,” Zayn explained with a short smile.

“Zayn… this isn’t a vacation,” Liam said with a somewhat sad look.

Zayn lost his smile and nodded. “You’re right.” He took one glance at the luggage, and then turned back, leaving it behind and walking forward with a stoic expression.

“Okay, so we’re on our way then!” Louis brightly announced.

Zayn turned around to the temple and made the sign of prayer--he stretched his arms out to the side, then brought them in to pantomime like he was holding a small sphere between his hands. He stared at the temple for a moment, then he finally turned around.

Niall waited until Zayn had caught up. His eyes looked a bit dim, like he was sad about not taking the luggage.

“I think it was real nice of you, about the gifts I mean--to think of all the people you’ll be visiting,” Niall told him with a smile.

Zayn looked over at Niall and then the smile grew back on his lips. “Thanks. Liam and Louis are right, though. It’ll probably be better to not have so much luggage.”

“Well, then you’ll just have to go visit those places again after your pilgrimage!” Niall told him with a grin.

Zayn stared at him, expression indiscernible, until a gentle smile formed on his face and he blinked. “Yeah, I guess I’ll have to.”

 

~

 

On their way down the island, they were met with some monsters again--”fiends” were what Louis and Liam called them--and Zayn was able to practice summoning. He took his staff and did the same ceremonial call for the bird--Valefor--to appear. Zayn met the creature with a similar stroke on its face and told it, “Valefor, please lend me your strength, and I’ll lend you mine.”

Valefor squawked and before Niall knew it, the bird was sending out lasers and completely obliterating the fiends before them.

Zayn grinned brightly and turned back to Valefor. “Wow, Valefor! You’re amazing!”

Niall’s mouth was agape as he gawked. “The hell?!”

Louis snorted. “Heads up! Here’s some more, get ready Niall!”

Niall, too, was new at battling and used the sword Louis gave him to slice at the weird blob-looking fiends. He surprised himself by how natural it was for him, and Liam, Louis, and Zayn were all impressed with his quick reflexes.

“Hey, you got the makings of a guardian!” Louis commented.

“Don’t put the idea in his head, Louis,” Liam groaned.

Niall laughed, uncertain if he should take offense to this or not. Louis shrugged it off and the party kept going until they made it to their boat. It was wooden, and Niall thought it reminded him of a pirate ship, but more tribal-looking. As he wandered below deck, he was surprised to see yellow birds the size of horses spinning on wheels like hamsters, powering the vessel.

“What, you never seen a chocobo before?” a crew member snorted. “Where the hell are you even from?”

“Umm… Sin’s toxins got to me…” Niall awkwardly said as he blushed, hating himself for telling that stupid excuse.

Niall quickly made his way back up to the deck, avoiding conversation with anyone else in case it was yet another thing in this world that he knew nothing about that he’d have to explain as “Sin’s toxins…”

The sky was clear with very few clouds in it, and the breeze was gentle as the ship swept through the bright blue water. Niall took someone’s binoculars and glanced around the deck, watching what everyone was doing and admiring the view of far away islands he had never been to.

As Niall spied through the glass, he came across Zayn standing at the bow of the ship, hands at the railing. His brilliantly colored robe swayed behind him, and he looked absolutely inhuman with all the glittering jewels on his hands and arms, and that face...

Then Liam came up to Zayn and gently placed a hand on his wrist. “Zayn… I don’t think it’s best for you to be out here.”

Zayn turned to Liam and gave him a crooked smile. “Come on, Liam! Let me have a bit of fun.”

“But--”

“How often will I ever get to be on boats like this, heading off on epic adventure?” Zayn beamed at him.

Liam sighed. “I don’t know if I would call this an ‘adventure’ but… if it makes you happy...”

He gave Zayn a low-spirited smile, then turned and walked back over the deck, barely brushing past Niall in the process.

In the meantime, Zayn had turned back to the water, placing his hands on the wooden railing. Niall approached and did the same thing as he looked out at the blue water.

“What was that about with Liam?” Niall asked to initiate conversation.

“Well… Liam’s just worried about me being so close to the edge of the boat because… I can’t swim.” Zayn had looked down as he said this, his voice growing quieter. “Some summoner I am, huh? Can’t even swim.”

Niall blinked and then vigorously shook his head.  “What? Are you kidding me?”

Zayn looked a bit uncertain and tilted his head.

“Who cares if you can’t swim? I mean… I don’t know how many people can summon those aeon things! I mean, I can play blitzball and swimming’s like breathing for me, but… I could never do something amazing like what you can do, Zayn!”

Zayn’s eyes had widened, then he grinned. “Thank you, Niall…”

“Besides, you can still learn how to swim! I can teach you!” Niall offered.

“Really?” Zayn asked

Niall nodded. “Of course!”

Zayn turned back to the sea and smiled. “I’d love that! And it might come in handy one day. I wish I was a bit better at the physical stuff, but I guess…. That’s why I have guardians like Liam and Louis to help me out. And for their company of course.”

“Even Liam?” Niall asked with a snort.

Zayn quietly laughed. “Yes, even Liam! He’s not as bad as you think he is… It’s just… all this summoner business, he takes it very seriously. He was a guardian for someone else last year and…Well… they never finished their pilgrimage,” he sighed.

“Oh,” Niall swallowed, realizing the gravity of what Zayn meant.

“So… he just wants to make sure I’m protected. I don’t blame him. And he’s real nice once you get to know him!”

Niall and Zayn grew quiet once more as they watched the waves break along the bow of the boat. The hair on Niall’s cheeks and forehead swooshed and tickled at his skin, so that he started laughing and smiling. Zayn had turned to him and smiled too, his own hair whipping at his jaw and flying over his eyes.

"That wind!" Niall cheerfully remarked.

Zayn grinned in response. "Yeah! I never really get to go anywhere off the island... this is great!"

After another moment of comfortable silence, Zayn asked, "So… in Zanarkand, did you have tournaments like the one in Luca?”

“Oh, yeah!” Niall answered. “Tons of people and….” Niall flashed back to the last time he played blitzball, how the entire place had crumbled down, all those people screaming and running for their lives.

“Niall?” Zayn questioned.

Niall shook his head. “Aha, sorry, I guess I just spaced out,” he giggled.

“Sin’s toxins?” Zayn asked. Niall didn’t know if he was being serious or not because he was smirking.

“Don’t worry Niall, I don’t think you’re crazy. A bit strange, but…”

“Hey!” Niall giggled as he gently pushed at Zayn’s shoulder.

“I do believe you though, about being from Zanarkand,” Zayn told him, losing the smile and replacing it with a sincere, calm look.

“You do?” Niall asked.

Zayn nodded. “Mhmm! You know, I’ve only met one other person named Niall, and he said he was from Zanarkand. He played blitzball, too!”

“Really?”

“Yeah, except… he didn’t go by the name Niall. He went by a nickname, Bressie.”

Niall’s throat closed up. “What?”

“...Did I say something wrong?”

Niall’s mouth dropped open, he didn’t know what to feel… Bressie… it couldn’t be the same Bressie, his Bressie, but… who else would it be?

“Bressie was the name of my… my friend. And mentor. He was the greatest blitzball player who ever lived.”

“Amazing! Niall, this coincidence… it must be a blessing from Yevon.”

Niall rolled his eyes. “Nah. It couldn’t be him.”

Zayn stared at Niall, tense expression on his brow. “Why not?”

“He’s dead.” Niall was clenching his jaw so much it hurt. He hadn’t spoken about Bressie to anyone in years.

“What?”

“Ten years ago,” Niall shortly answered. “He left for training out at sea, and he never came back.”

“Ten years ago… was when my father left for his pilgrimage. Bressie was one of his guardians.”

“Huh?”

Zayn leaned over and got closer to Niall. “He told me about a young boy he was waiting to get back to, someone he had been training… Niall, it has to be the same Bressie. Maybe… he didn’t die… maybe he ended up here, just like you!”

Niall could barely process this before a huge crash came from one side of the boat and sent both Zayn and Niall stumbling. Niall leaned forward and caught Zayn’s hand as the boat careened and tilted. Holding on tight to each other, Zayn and Niall tried to remain balanced and looked between each other and the rest of the boat with shock.

One of the crewmen shouted, “It’s Sin!”


	3. The Sending

The brief warning was all Niall and Zayn got before the boat heaved again and the bow tilted, as if something huge had pushed it from below. Niall grabbed onto the railing, still holding onto Zayn, though he was barely holding on with his fingers.

“Hang on, Zayn!” Niall grunted as he tried his hardest to maintain his hold.

But the force of another crash was too strong. Zayn yelped as he slipped out of Niall’s grip and fell, sliding on the deck. Niall tried to reach for Zayn as he held onto the railing, but he was just out of reach.

“I got you, Zayn!” Liam had said as he picked up Zayn from behind and darted to one of the masts.

“We’ve got to fight them off!” Louis panted as the boat tilted back to normal and he ran up the bow. The crew seemed to already be fighting off what had taken hold of the ship and everything tilted back to level. Niall fell to his knees, then he saw a giant fin, the tip of it probably thirty feet above the water, plunging the deck into shadow. Creatures had sprouted and landed on the deck. They were blue monstrous, alien-looking fiends.

“Protect the summoner!” Liam ordered as he and Louis formed a front. Niall joined in and they battled the creatures until a huge wave sent the boat careening off course. Sin seemed to have released the boat, but it was headed off quick to its next destination.

“It’s going towards Kilika,” Zayn gasped with a pained look in his eyes.

“Isn’t there a way to stop it?” a crewman asked. “Our families are in Kilika!”

Niall watched the rippling wave travel farther and farther away from them towards the mass of land in the distance. Things grew grey and dark in the distance. Niall shook, heat forming in his chest. This thing that had destroyed his home and ripped him away was now on its way to wreak more damage to innocent people.

“There’s nothing we can do now,” Liam said with a disheartened frown.

“Yes, there is… I can do a Sending,” Zayn said with a solemn nod.

Louis stared over at him, brow tilting. “Zayn, are you sure?”

“I have to go to the temple anyway, don’t I?” Zayn asked, keeping his eye on the island. “Those people… they’ll need the Sending.”

Niall blinked in confusion. He didn’t know what a Sending was but Zayn seemed resolved to do this for the good of the people.

Hopefully… they would all be okay.

 

~

 

By the time they reached Port Kilika, Niall and his group were met with destruction, flattened huts and splinters of shattered wood all around, and broken deck floating in the waves. It was eerily silent at the port and a few villagers were examining the wreckage.

When Zayn and company stepped off the ship, they were met by two elderly villagers.

“Greetings, I am Lord Zayn, summoner from the island of Besaid,” Zayn introduced himself. He bowed and made the sign of the prayer.

“My lord, we are so glad you have come!” The two elderly villagers returned the prayer.

Zayn nodded, then looked around the port. “If there is no other summoner here, I will perform the Sending.”

The old woman nodded, saying, “We were worried no one would come and they would turn into fiends…”

Zayn walked along with the elderly couple and the rest of the group followed. As they made their way across the port, they had to be careful to step around the broken parts of the deck. Niall was still looking around the wreckage. A lonely blitzball bobbed just near him in the water. It looked like a smaller one, one that children played with.

Was this what Zanarkand was like now? Broken, silent, and sad?

“What’s a Sending?” Niall asked as the small group congregated at one pier, Zayn consulting with the villagers who were upset and crying.

Liam sighed. “Are you sure it’s just Sin’s toxins that are your problem?”

Niall frowned. Liam warmly chuckled, surprising Niall. But then his smile dropped, replaced with a somber expression.

“A Sending is performed when the souls of the departed...the dead… cannot accept their fate. These people, crying and upset… they’re not mourners. They are the dead.”

Niall’s eyes widened. “What? They’re dead?”

Liam nodded. “They are souls that don’t want to leave this plane, they are Unsent. Summoners perform a Sending to guide these souls to the Farplane, where they can rest at peace. Otherwise, their restless souls would turn into fiends.”

“So… summoners have to do this in addition to fighting Sin?”

“It’s not like anyone else can,” Liam said matter-of-factly as he looked upon Zayn, who had his staff out and ready. “Summoners are special not only because they can summon aeons, but because they are also able to transport the souls from this world to the Farplane.”

Niall looked down the dock, where Zayn was speaking to Louis, breathing out of his mouth in what looked like nerves. The villagers had gathered all around and were waiting for Zayn to do...something.

“Don’t be nervous. You got this,” Niall faintly heard Louis assure Zayn as he clapped a hand on his chest. Zayn smiled and then looked to Liam and Niall. Niall gave him a thumbs up and a grin.

Zayn briefly smiled, breathed out through his lips again, then he turned back to the water. He took off his boots and pulled up his trousers above the ankle. He walked along the dock all the way to the end with staff in hand. Then he stepped off the dock and continued to walk. Niall gasped and started forward, but Louis held him back by the shoulder.

“He’s all right,” he told Niall. “Watch.”

Niall looked back at Zayn, and saw him gracefully walk across the glittering water’s surface, though he held his staff close to his chest the whole time. He seemed to wobble, as if he were on a balance beam, trying to find his footing--when there was nothing solid underneath him in the first place.

It was quiet except for the lapping waves, and Zayn stood silently, facing the setting sun. Then he threw his head up, eyes closed and a voice emerged from him, singing,

“ _Li e yu i_ _…_ _no bo me no_ _…_ ”

Chills ran up Niall’s spine and he felt the hairs prickle on his arms from hearing Zayn’s voice. He had never heard something so beautiful in his life. Not that he can remember.

“ _Re en mi ri… yo ju yo go..._ ”

Zayn took a step forward and swept his staff to the side in a circular motion. Then the islanders on the dock joined in a chorus, singing along with Zayn. Niall judged that perhaps the movement of his staff had to be specific, because Zayn looked like he was struggling under the weight of it, making the movements slow and having to hold an arm out to steady himself at times.

Lights emerged from underneath the water, where Niall noticed for the first time were wooden caskets, submerged and decorated with pink and violet seaflower blossoms. As Zayn moved his staff, the wind and water blended into the song of the islanders, the caskets floated upward, and luminescent bubbles rose to the peach-colored sky.

Zayn wavered a bit as the water surged under his feet, elevating and enveloping him. Watching closely, it looked like Zayn had hitched his breath at the moment, but he closed his eyes and regained composure once more. Niall wanted to ask Louis if summoners were supposed to look like they’d almost fall into the water during a Sending—especially after remembering Zayn couldn’t swim—but he felt that if he spoke, he would ruin the sacred atmosphere.

It was all quite magical, all the colors, the way the foaming waves danced and cascaded around Zayn--but even though Zayn’s voice was beautiful and the sunset was a magnificent sight… it was a bit horrific for Niall to hear the wailing of the Unsent and to see them crying and grabbing at themselves, almost in pain. Eventually they faded into the air, into the same type of lights that came from the caskets, floating into the dusk sky and echoing in what sounded like relief to Niall.

Zayn was sweating and heaving by the time the Sending was done and he was back on the solid deck. “Hope I did okay,” he quietly said, ducking his head as he walked up to everyone.

“You did great,” Louis told him with a warm smile and a hug.

Zayn wiped at his eyes with his knuckles, which Niall had noticed seemed to be leaking tears.

“It’ll get easier the next few times,” Louis quietly added.

 _Next few times?_ Niall echoed in his mind. That meant… more people may die… because of Sin…

Even though what Zayn had just done was a beautiful thing… It made Niall feel sick to think that this would happen again, that there would be more communities destroyed, more people in despair, and that Zayn would have to be the one to put them to rest.

All of this… because of Sin.

It seemed like such a dark burden to carry. But then again… Zayn was already carrying a burden, going on this pilgrimage to become High Summoner and face the beast that caused this death and destruction.

Zayn caught Niall’s eye at that moment, and gave him a half smile. Niall tried his best to smile back.

Liam had returned to stand at Niall’s side, gazing with fond sadness as Zayn conferred with the remaining villagers.

“Summoners… have a tough job, don’t they?” Niall asked.

Liam nodded. “Zayn chose his path. He knows exactly what being a summoner means. All we can do as guardians is protect him until the end.”

“Until the end? What’s the end?” Niall asked.

He noticed that the murmurs he had been hearing had abruptly stopped and it appeared that everyone had heard him ask that question, looking back at him and Liam. Niall blushed at the attention.

Liam released an exhausted sigh. “The end… is when Zayn defeats Sin.”

 

~

 

“Gotta pray for victory tomorrow!” Louis said as they left the temple in Kilika the next evening. Zayn had only taken a few hours that day to get the aeon this time, Ifrit, a rather fierce looking werewolf-like creature that had summoned fire.

“Isn’t that...sacrilegious?” Niall asked as they carefully navigated their way through the thick, humid jungle.

Louis laughed and clapped a hand on his back. “Oh, Niall! Don’t you know… blitzball is just as important as Yevon! Well… I mean, with so much sorrow in this world, blitzball is the only thing that gets everyone excited. It gives them something to smile about and look forward to--to forget all the pain.”

Niall nodded. “Hmm, guess you have a point.”

“So… we gotta make Besaid proud! Especially after Zayn had to leave home.”

“Well, even if we don’t win, he’ll come back after defeating Sin, right?” Niall shrugged. “So they can’t be too heartbroken.”

Louis was silent for a second, then nodded. “Yeah… guess we would go back.”

The group made their way down the jungle to get back to port, until Zayn asked to stop.

“You feeling worn out, Zayn?” Liam asked.

Zayn shook his head. “No, it’s just… Niall?”

Niall’s eyes widened and he turned to face Zayn. “Yeah?”

“There’s just one thing I want to ask, well…” Zayn ducked his head and nervously stroked his own hair.

“What is it?” Niall asked.

“I know we had originally planned to part ways at Luca, but I…”

“Can this wait, Zayn?” Liam asked. “We should be getting to the boat so that we arrive at Luca in time tomorrow morning.

Zayn sighed. “Yeah… maybe it can…”

“Huh? Hey, you can tell me anything!” Niall cheerfully told him.

“Come on, Liam, I’m sure the boat won’t leave without us,” Louis chuckled. Liam gave him an exasperated stare.

“Well, I just…” Zayn started off with a soft, quiet voice. “I would like to ask you to come with me, Niall. On this pilgrimage.”

“As a guardian?!” Louis squawked.

Zayn quickly nodded.

Niall didn’t know what to say and let his mouth drop open.

Liam raised an eyebrow. “He barely has experience fighting fiends, Zayn…”

“Well then… I just want him around,” Zayn said, scratching behind his ear.

Liam’s jaw dropped. Louis’s eyes widened.

“Wow, uh…” Louis started.

“You know what, maybe we should talk about it later,” Zayn quickly said. “Sorry, Niall.”

“It’s okay, I’m just… not really sure what’s going on,” Niall replied with a grin.

“Let’s just keep moving,” Liam said as he led the group once more.

 _Hm, Zayn wants me around?_ Niall said to himself, trying not to smile outwardly at that.

 

~

 

Later that night as they were on their way to Luca, Louis decided to make his team practice on the ship deck for the tournament the next day. Niall was practicing on his own, too. It was strange… to have spent a few days not at blitzball practice. It was usually something he did everyday.

He had a flashback to the time that Bressie told him that he shouldn’t train too hard, that it would burn him out.

 _“_ _Come on Chief, get to bed._ _”_

 _“_ _No, not until I can do your move!_ _”_

 _Bressie chuckled._ _“_ _Maybe in a few years, champ._ _”_

Niall kicked the ball up onto his knee and then flipped into the air—sending the ball flying fast.

He was breathing out heavily as he thought to himself, _I had to learn that by myself_ _…_

“Bressie showed me the same move.”

Niall whipped around and blushed that someone had seen him. It was Zayn.

“He was… a very friendly man, and modest about his skills.”

Niall didn't say anything in response. He didn’t like to talk about Bressie. He supposed what Zayn said was true but... If Bressie was really here... It made Niall even more angry than he already was.

He huffed out a sigh.

It was better when Bressie was just dead. Either way, he left and never came back. Niall wished it could have just been as simple as that.

“That must have been upsetting to hear, right?”

“Hm?” Niall turned his attention back to Zayn. He had a sad look on his face.

“That he’s alive. And that he was here. I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be sorry.” Niall shook his head and dryly laughed. “It’s just… he’s supposed to be dead. That’s how… that’s how everything makes sense. It’s the only way things make sense.”

Zayn got closer to Niall and leaned against the railing of the deck. A slow grin formed on his mouth. “He talked a bit about you, you know. Said he was sorry to have left you behind and he wanted to get back, he really did!”

Niall looked down. “Well… he never did get back…”

Zayn looked into the distance, a wistful expression on his face. “He said he wanted to get rid of Sin so he could get home faster. But after they defeated Sin, no one’s heard of him since. There was another man who was my father’s guardian, Sir Paul. Maybe if we find him, he might know what happened to Bressie.”

“Paul?!” Niall almost shouted.

“Yeah, you know Paul?”

“Maybe, I met a man named Paul back in Zanarkand. He’s the one who saved me from Sin, but also… kind of left me on my own to face Sin…” Niall bitterly muttered.

“So… he’s still alive then! Which means… maybe Bressie is too,” Zayn replied.

“Yeah, maybe…” Just then, Niall remembered that Louis told him that Zayn was an orphan. His father died on his pilgrimage. Niall wondered if knowing his father died scared Zayn about his own pilgrimage. He felt scared then, for Zayn. He didn’t want someone so gentle and kind to die facing that monster. He wouldn’t let that happen to Zayn.

“Hey, I do want to go home…” Niall started, bringing Zayn’s attention back on him. “But… I’ll stay with you until we defeat Sin.”

Zayn smiled. “Really? You’d want to do that?”

Niall fervently nodded. “Mhmm! Then, when we figure out a way to get me home to Zanarkand… you can come too! I’ll show you around!”

Zayn looked at Niall for a couple seconds, then he smiled. “Bressie used to say that, too…”

“Well, I mean it!” Niall told him with a grin. “We’ll defeat Sin and then… we’ll go back to Zanarkand! It’s a promise!”

Zayn nodded. “Okay!”


	4. Luca

“Whoa!”  Niall exclaimed as soon as they landed at the port of Luca. “Now I feel a bit more at home!

The sea and the sky were a bright blue and dozens of boats were docked at the port, hundreds and hundreds of people walking around the city. At one end of the port was a huge blitzball stadium bordered by a shipyard and connected to it was a highway to a small city--the buildings were made of stone and no huts were in sight.

Different blitzball teams were gathered, waving their own banners and trailing with their own fans. Being around this many people in one space was normal for Niall--it was always like this right before a blitzball match.

The group made their way onto the dock, but as soon as Zayn stepped out he was flocked to by a bunch of people.

“It’s Lord Zayn!”

“Lord Zayn!”

“Wow, he is so much more handsome than I imagined--”

“Lord Zayn, would you… sign my blitzball?” a woman asked.

Zayn looked a bit caught off guard at first, but then he obliged and began to speak with all the people that flocked near him--though Louis somehow got between Zayn and the crowd and was able to wave them off.

Zayn was famous.

Well… Niall guessed with a face like that, of course he was. And Niall was used to the feeling behind Zayn’s doe-eyed look. When he first started being recognized for being on the Zanarkand Abes, it almost used to frighten him the way people would run up to him. He was used to it now, though.

“So... you’re kind of a huge deal in Spira?” Niall asked Zayn after the group were able to start moving along the port.

Zayn shortly laughed. “Ah… well... my dad was. And I’m his successor so… a lot of eyes are going to be on me during my pilgrimage.”

“No pressure,” Niall wryly joked.

Zayn laughed. “Yeah…”

“I think I know how you feel, though,” Niall said with a tilt of his head. “After Bressie… left… everyone knew he was my coach, so when I started playing blitzball professionally, the comparisons were constant and never seemed to stop.” He shortly laughed.

Zayn looked at Niall, then pursed his lips. “Yeah… I think I can kind of understand how that feels… It feels good, though… To see people get happy because they get to meet me.”

Niall smiled. “Yeah… That does feel good.”

Zayn smiled back.

More and more people arrived as the announcers talked about the tournament and presented each team.

“Here come the Besaid Aurochs… there has never been a worse team in the history of blitzball… ever!”

“Oi, that’s just rude!” Louis barked. “You just watch… the Besaid Aurochs are gonna go all the way! Cause we got Niall on our team!”

 _No pressure there,_ Niall groaned internally.

“And here are our favorites, the Luca Goers!!!” Many people cheered after their introduction. “Currently holding a three-year streak for title!”

Louis glared at the Luca players. “That ends this year... “

Liam placed a hand on his shoulder. “You’re taking this a bit too seriously, Lou… I mean, you’ve got to at least have a realistic--”

“Don’t you start with me about taking things seriously, Liam!” Louis snapped.

Liam rolled his eyes. “Well… don’t be too upset if you don’t win.”

Louis was about to say something back when a fanfare of horns interrupted him.

Descending from a large wooden ship was a group of people, strangely dressed in these big robes and headdresses. Niall spotted a tall person, a woman, it looked like, who had long golden hair and was draped in a swathing white robe with a red sash, the sleeves big and sharp long nails emerging from them. Her eyes were half-lidded, and she had ornately painted eyeliner and eyeshadow done--then Niall realized that upon a closer look, it wasn’t makeup--there were pronounced blueish veins along her fair skin. It contrasted with the velvet red lipstick she wore. Her face looked calm and still, though he could almost sense a cruel expression in her eyes. Maybe it was just her face.

“Hey, that’s Maester Swift…” several people whispered.

“So beautiful…”

“It’s really her!”

As soon as she walked onto the port, everyone around bowed and made the sign of prayer. Everyone except for Niall.

“Niall!” Louis hissed as he poked his side.

“What? Who is that?”

Louis sighed, “You really ought to stop bringing so much attention to yourself, I mean that hair alone!”

Niall quickly made the sign of prayer. He looked up and saw Maester Swift direct an intent gaze near him, and she saw her eyes had immediately gone to Zayn. Zayn noticed and bashfully lowered his head. Maester Swift kept her gaze on him and smirked in a satisfied way. 

“So… who is that girl?” Niall asked.

Liam scoffed. “She is a Maester. That’s Maester Swift, half Guado, half human.”

“Guado?” Niall questioned.

“Different race from a human,” Louis informed.

“Is that why she’s so tall? And her skin… it’s… almost scaly?”

Liam grumbled, “Have some more respect… A maester is the second highest level of authority and leadership for the followers of Yevon. A very revered position, only one out of three in all of Spira. More than that, Maester Swift is very powerful.”

“Powerful, in what way?” Niall asked.

“She can summon aeons, too.”

“Like Zayn? So she’s a summoner?”

“Not exactly…” Zayn interjected.

“Huh?”

“All you need to know about Maester Swift is that she is very powerful, but she is also very generous,” Zayn explained. “I’ve never met her, but she is beloved and respected throughout Spira.”

“Anyway… blitzball is all we’re here for today!” Louis shouted. “Team!”

The Besaid Aurochs assembled, standing at attention.

“What’s our motto?” Louis asked.

“We’ll try our best!”

“No… what is the new motto?” Louis grumbled.

“We’re… gonna win?” one of them questioned.

“Yes! Now say it like you mean it!”

“We’re gonna try to win!” the team member cheered.

Louis slapped a palm to his face. “You’ve gotta be kidding me…”

Niall took this chance to up the morale. He was used to doing this for his own blitzball matches.

He clambered on top of a wooden crate and amplified his voice with two hands cupped around his mouth. “What’s our team?!”

“The Aurochs!” Louis yelled.

“Where are we from?!” Niall announced.

“Besaid!” the entire team cheered.

“I said where are we from?!” Niall repeated.

“Besaid!” they cheered, louder this time.

“And what are we gonna do?” Niall asked.

“Win!” the team responded.

“I said what are we gonna do?!!” Niall repeated.

“We’re going to win!!!”

“When I say Besaid you say Aurochs! Besaid!”

“Aurochs!”

“Besaid!”

“Aurochs!”

“BESAID!”

“AUROCHS!”

The team continued to hoot and chant as Niall began to giggle and whoop along with them. “You guys are great!”

He glanced at Zayn who was cheering alongside them with a fist in the air.

“Quite the lively crowd here,” came an airy, silvery voice.

Zayn whipped around and saw that he was faced with Maester Swift.

“Maester Swift!” He gasped and bowed quickly, making the sign of the prayer.

She gracefully returned the prayer, then smiled. “Interesting company you’re with…”

Zayn warmly smiled. “This is Louis and Liam, my guardians, and this is Niall… my… umm, he’s a traveling companion, here to play blitzball with the team here from Besaid.”

Maester Swift narrowed her gaze at Niall for a couple seconds and she blinked so nonchalantly, it felt like he wasn’t even really there. She turned back to Zayn. “I am honored to meet you Lord Zayn, and I wish you luck on your pilgrimage to become High Summoner.”

Zayn bowed again. “Thank you, Maester, it really is an honor to meet you as well!”

Maester Swift softly giggled, “No need to be so formal. Should we ever cross paths, please know that I will be at your service to assist in any way.” She told Zayn this as she clasped one of his hands between both of hers.

Zayn swallowed as he looked up at her. “Oh--sure, I mean, yes, thank you very much!”

Maester Swift smiled. “Enjoy the matches today.” And then she went on her way, trailing with her party of… servants, Niall guessed.

“Wow, Zayn… Maester Swift was so kind to you,” Liam noted.

“Yeah…” Zayn mused out loud. “I wonder if we will cross paths again…”

 

~

 

The group were able to watch the blitzball stadium get filled--a large, floating sphere of water was filled inside the space, and all around it were the pews for people to watch. Liam explained that this was done through the power of the pyreflies, the lights that happened to be the spiritual energy that Niall witnessed traveling to the Farplane when Zayn did the Sending.

“Pyreflies are the reason for so many phenomena like spheres,” Liam continued, pointing at what looked like TV screens of live footage in the stadium.

“So… like electricity?” Niall asked.

“But not… because electricity is harnessing the world’s resources and wasting it,” Louis interjected with a bitter frown. “That is machina. Pyreflies are spirit energy, never destroyed, only circulating.”

“But… you’re still using it…”

Louis narrowed his eyes. “Niall…”

“He has a point,” Zayn noted. “Hey, do you think we have time to go look around Luca? I’ve heard it’s a lively city!”

“Sure, let’s go check it out!” Niall cheerfully added.

Louis glared at him. “No, we only have two hours to practice!”

“Oh, come on, Louis… We practiced all night and this morning!” Niall groaned.

Louis sighed. “Fine! But take Liam with you--a guardian must always be with Zayn.”

“Where will you be?” Zayn asked Louis.

“Practicing, because that’s what winners do!” Louis said with a feisty turn as he walked towards the locker room.

“Well, you play the Al Bhed Psyches first, then you go up against the semifinalist winner! You actually do have a chance to win the title…” Liam told Niall.

 _I wish I could be excited about that…_ Niall thought to himself. Being in Spira… nothing seemed real and nothing else seemed to matter… not blitzball, not anymore.

“So are we gonna go?” Zayn asked, making Niall alert. He had a bright look in his eyes, which made Niall happy. He could be excited about Luca now, maybe...

Niall grinned. “Yeah! Let’s go!”

Niall, Liam, and Zayn wandered through the city, admiring shops and the buildings that were novel to Zayn and Liam, who had apparently never really been off of their home island of Besaid.

“You should see Zanarkand--even bigger buildings and more lights!” Niall boasted.

“Really?” Zayn gasped. “Must be exciting living somewhere like that, I can’t imagine…”

Niall laughed. “It definitely is never boring!”

As they walked through a busy crowded street, Niall lost sight of Zayn and Liam was nowhere to be found, either. He decided to stand on the tips of his toes, until he spotted black hair and the colorful earring he always wore.

“Zayn!” Niall called before he whistled.

“Hey!” Zayn turned around and grinned at Niall, walking towards him “Was that you who made the sound?”

Niall nodded. “Uh-huh! You know, in Zanarkand we cheer on people with loud whistles like this. So make sure you do that when you’re in the stands.”

Zayn softly laughed. “I’m not sure I know how…”

Niall laughed, “Come on, it’s easy! Just stick your fingers in your mouth…” He had stuck his fingers in his mouth to demonstrate. “And then you blow!”

Zayn tried to follow Niall’s instruction but made a pitiful sound instead as he blew on his fingers. “I can’t…”

“You just gotta practice Zayn! You can do anything if you practice, you know!”

Zayn grinned until his eyes closed and he laughed. “Yeah, you’re right, I guess.”

“You should do that if we get separated, too!” Niall told him with a bright smile. “Just whistle, and I’ll come running, I promise!”

Zayn smiled. “Well, it probably won’t be much use at my current skill level…”

Niall softly laughed at that. “Then… I guess until you learn how to do it, it’s best you stick next to me so I don’t lose you.” He was vaguely self aware that he was flirting, but not really able to hold back when Zayn was so attentive to him.

Zayn nodded, “Uh huh, of course!”

Niall grinned.

They regrouped with Liam, and decided to go into a pub to see what refreshments were available to buy. Though, this time… Liam was the one who brought them attention.

“Well look who it is… Liam Payne, the guardian…”

Niall whipped around at the same time as Liam, and faced two burly men dressed in Crusader uniforms. Niall briefly remembered meeting some of them on Besaid. They were Yevon followers who volunteered to fight Sin and protect communities, like a small army.

“So how’s the guardian business treating you? This one’s a celebrity now, huh?” one of them asked Liam.

“Yeah, the last one didn’t end so well, wasn’t very noteworthy either… Wouldn’t think you’d put yourself through that again, but you’re probably getting paid handsomely by the prince, eh?”

“Of course… when this one won’t end well, either, it kinda makes you rethink the ‘nobility’ of the pilgrimage--isn’t that why you decided to leave us?”

Niall couldn’t understand why these guys were being so rude. Especially after knowing what happened to Liam’s last summoner. Before he could interject, he was shocked to hear the slam of the last guy shoved against the wall.

Liam had him by the collar of his shirt, fierce look on his face, looking fearsome as Niall noted his bulging biceps and the way he barely seemed to strain any effort.

“Have some respect for Lord Zayn, the son of High Summoner Yaser,” Liam quietly told the guy he had in his hold. “And have some damn respect for the dead!” He slammed him back down so hard that the wood flooring splintered and the man fell to his bum.

“Hey, you looking for a fight?” the other jerk asked.

“You really want to try me?” Liam asked.

Niall got close, gearing up for a fight, too. He glanced to gauge Zayn’s reaction, but when he turned to see him, he was gone.

“Uh… Zayn? Where’d you go?”

Niall searched the pub, but found no trace of him, then walked outside… and found no hint of him in sight still. He had a bad feeling about this.

“Liam!” Niall called as he ran back into the pub.

“What?” Liam asked, a second away from getting into a brawl, it looked like.

“Zayn’s gone!” Niall cried.

Liam lost the angry look on his face and it was replaced with alarm. “How can that be?”

“I don’t know… he was here one minute… then gone the next!”

Liam sighed as he put a palm to his face. “Damn it… I should have been watching out for him.”

He turned his back on the Crusaders, who taunted after him, but he paid no attention and he and Niall walked out of the pub to search for Zayn.

“Zayn!” Niall whistled. He got no response.

“In thirty minutes the Al Bhed Psyches are up against the Besaid Aurochs!” the announcer spoke.

“You have to go play…” Liam muttered.

Niall shook his head. “Louis can handle the team. I’ll help you find Zayn.”

Liam and Niall scoured the streets of Luca, but found no trace of Zayn, so they returned to the stadium, hoping he might have wandered back there.

“Liam!” It was Stan, one of Louis’s friends, Niall remembered. He came running and was huffing as he bent over catching his breath.

“What is it?” Liam asked.

“Zayn…”

“You know where he is?” Liam urgently asked.

Stan shook his head. “No, but I know the Al Bhed Psyches took him hostage! They want Besaid to throw the match… then they’ll return Zayn. But if not… then…" 

Liam had a fierce look on his face again. “They won’t harm Zayn, not while his guardians are around!”

Niall furrowed his brow. “You’re… not going to throw the match, are you?”

“We’re going to try and stall,” Stan replied. “If you find Zayn, send up a fire spell and once Louis sees it, we’ll know that Zayn is safe.”

“Okay,” Liam nodded with affirmation. “Niall?”

“I’m with you, Liam.” He turned to Stan. “I’ll be back for the second match. And there _will_ be a second match.”

“I hope so. Louis’s pissed off like I’ve never seen him before,” Stan nervously chuckled. Then he turned around and ran back towards the stadium.

Liam and Niall deduced that the Al Bhed must be holding Zayn on one of their ships and ran as fast as they could while keeping track of the match on the sphere screens. Louis was playing fiercely, but letting himself get hit, causing the other team to foul, to waste more time until they found Zayn.

As they ran toward the shipyard, Liam started, “Hey, Niall… I want to apologize for acting the way I did back there at that pub.”

“Huh?”

Liam glanced down bashfully. “Usually I’m better at keeping cool but… they just got under my skin. I used to be… sort of a captain for the Crusaders. I quit to be a guardian for someone else on a pilgrimage… and I left so suddenly, they felt...abandoned. But to be so rude!”

“Hey, no need to apologize! I get it!” Niall smiled at him.

Liam looked surprised, then gently smiled back. “I think… I’ve been spending too much time with Louis lately.”

Niall laughed. “Well, maybe we can tell him about it when we get back.”

Liam laughed in return. “Ugh, he’d love that… Probably would have joined in if he were there…”

 

~

 

It was a quick battle to defeat the defense machina (machine) that was guarding the ship where Zayn was held, just inside the deck of the Al Bhed Psyches’ ship.

Niall noticed that it was almost the exact same ship he had met Harry, that weird guy, on, when he first landed in Spira. But he was nowhere to be found, so maybe this wasn’t that ship.

“Zayn, are you alright?!” Liam ran forward and practically cradled Zayn in his hold once he was released from the locked hatch, looking over his face and body for any damage.

“I’m fine, Liam,” Zayn said as he brought a gentle hand to his arm. “But… I feel bad.. it was annoying and the fact that they kidnapped me for such a stupid reason. Louis’s been waiting for this for a really long time!”

“Right… that reminds me…” Liam closed his eyes and then sent his fist up to the sky, sending an orange fireball out of his hand that flamed up in the sky and burst like a firework. Niall looked up in awe, still not completely sure how Liam, Zayn, and Louis all seemed capable of doing magic.

“Sorry we weren’t keeping more careful watch of you,” Niall said as he looked down.

Zayn shook his head. “Don’t be. It was my fault for letting it happen." 

Liam glared. “It was not your fault at all. It was the Al Bhed. When I see one of them again, I swear I’m gonna--”

“It’s okay… they didn’t really hurt me,” Zayn sighed.

“It’s still not okay!” Liam protested.

“Well, now they’re going to have to face the wrath of Louis in a blitzball match,” Zayn smirked. Then it dropped. “Oh no—the blitzball match is almost over, isn’t it? We should get back so you can play!” He directed the last sentence to Niall.

Niall nodded. “I can play the next one, as long as Louis wins this one!”

~

 

The Besaid Aurochs won the match with a last minute goal kicked in by Louis, but when Niall, Zayn, and Liam returned to the locker room, he was in bad shape. He couldn’t even stand.

“Lou!” Zayn called as he ran to hover over him. “Bro, are you alright?”

“We won, Zayn…” Louis breathed out, looking at him hazily. He was lying on his back on one of the benches, bandaged on his arms and his thigh. It looked like he got tackled pretty bad.

Zayn grinned. “And the Besaid Aurochs will win the next one!”

Louis smiled. Then he frowned. “Zayn, how the hell did you let yourself get kidnapped? And by Al Bhed.. of all people!” He struggled to sit up, resting on his elbows. “I oughta go over there and beat the shit out of those mother--”

“Louis, I’m fine!” Zayn protested as he gently grabbed him and made him lie down again.

Louis narrowed his eyes. “I hope you at least hurt them.”

“Just a little…” Zayn said with a shrug.

“Good.” Louis breathed out. “Niall?”

“Yeah?” Niall came forward.

“Carry the team to victory, lad… I… I think I’m done,” Louis sighed, looking more morose than Niall had ever seen him.

“This is your victory, though… look what you did! We made it to the final because of you!” Niall grinned.

Louis smiled up at him. “I guess… I had something to do with it…”

Niall grinned. “You’re going to be a legend now!”

“Alright… quit flattering me, sunflower head!” Louis said, pouting his lips and looking away from Niall. 

“Sunflower head?” Niall laughed.

“Tell me that hair doesn’t look like a sunflower…” Louis muttered, which got everyone else laughing.

 

~

 

Niall played the next match, which ended up in a tie. When there were only penalty shots left at the end of the match, he went to the locker room to get Louis and bring him back into the game.

Louis protested, “This is your match though, and I’m--”

“You’re the captain,” Niall interrupted with a revered stare. “We wouldn’t have got here without you.”

Louis gave Niall a warm look and Niall pulled him up to his feet. “Let’s go!”

When they returned to the blitzball sphere, the Besaid Aurochs were up ahead by one point. They would clinch the win with the next penalty shot goal.

Niall nodded at Louis, and Louis swam forward, taking his shot with the blitzball.

“The Besaid Aurochs have made history!” the announcers cheered after Louis got the goal. “This is the first time a team with such a poor record has gone straight to victory! Ladies and gentlemen… this will be a tournament to talk about for the next century!”

Louis looked so happy, huge grin on his face, his cheeks rosy, and Niall thought he might have been crying--although, it was hard to tell since they were, you know, underwater…

But before they could celebrate too much, cheers turned into screams of horror. Niall looked up and above the sphere, fiends were entering the stadium and attacking.

The team gathered and prepared to fight off any fiends they could in the stadium. There were so many, though… it looked like civilians in the stands weren’t escaping the attacks.

“Oi, heads up!”

Niall turned just as a flying fiend came towards him. He brought his sword up to defend himself, but the fiend never reached him.

He saw it dissipate into balls of light--pyreflies, he had to remember they were called--and behind it was a tall, husky man with short, dark hair and a muscular physique. He was wearing a black coat and brandishing a broad sword.

Niall’s eyes widened. It was Paul--the guy who he’d met just before he was taken from Zanarkand.

Paul casually brandished the sword over his shoulder as he made eye contact with Niall.

“Sir Paul!” Louis called out.

Niall bent his brow. “You know him?!”

“He’s a legendary guardian!” Louis explained.

“You boys doing okay with this fleet?” Paul asked.

Niall was still angry about basically being thrown to the mercy of Sin by Paul--leading him to getting sucked up and sent to Spira. He growled, “Hey! You--”

“No time for talking! More fiends!” Paul yelled as more monsters came their way.

Just when it looked like they might start to get outnumbered, an eery roar filled the air, and Niall swore he could hear deep-toned bells ringing. When he looked for the source, he was met with a horrific sight.

A huge, shrieking creature seemed to be emerging from a rip in space and time, held by a rusty chain, bound by bandages, a bloody face with sharp fangs protruding out of its mouth, and its eyes bloodshot and savage. Niall had no idea what this creature was, but once he saw the bright lights traveling from its eyes and destroying the fiends in one hit, he figured that this must be an aeon. Especially when just above it on the balcony was Maester Swift, gazing at its work.

She apparently was controlling the demonic looking thing, a complacent smile on her face the whole while. It was jarring how much her cheerful, calm demeanor clashed with this howling thing that looked like a creature from Hell.

Niall didn’t like it one bit. Something just seemed off about that, compared to the way Zayn summoned his aeons. Niall never felt scared in their presence. But now… he was truly terrified.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ....I was kind of worried how the casting choice would be made for Maester Swift... but apparently it's not too out of the realm of reality for Zayn to be associating with her LOL and I SWEAR this part of the fic was planned weeks ago, holy crap, haha
> 
> ...My fic keeps on predicting the future... what is this power I have? haha


	5. Priceless

After the fiends were defeated and Maester Swift called off her aeon, the people in the stadium evacuated and began to leave Luca. Zayn and company were preparing to head out, too, but Niall grabbed hold of Paul and led them to a part of the shipyard that was somewhat private--so he could finally give him a piece of his mind.

 “Hey! You just left me back there in Zanarkand, you… you old—“

“But you’re alive, aren’t you?” Paul asked with a pointed eyebrow.

Niall fumed and pursed his lips because he couldn’t deny it. “Well, I guess! But I am definitely not okay! Being constantly attacked by monsters and in a place where everyone thinks Zanarkand is an ancient ruined city, and I sound like a crazy person—meanwhile everything here makes _absolutely no sense_ —“

“Just like Bressie…” Paul mused. “He kind of had a panic when he showed up in Bevelle back then… but he adjusted, and you will, too.”

Niall walked forward, angry with the way he seemed to be patronized by this guy. He fisted a hand in Paul’s coat. “Oi, you better start explaining or I’ll--”

“Don’t think you want to try that, laddie,”  Paul said before he reached for Niall’s shirt and lifted him up off the ground without strain, using only one arm.

“Ahh!”

Paul let him drop down to his feet and Niall huffed out in exasperation. “Just tell me… what’s going on? Why did you bring me here?”

Paul stared at the ground. “I didn’t bring you here. Bressie did…”

“What?” Niall gasped.

“You felt him back there, didn’t you?”

Niall shook his head. “I don’t know what you’re saying--who even are you?! And… how is it that you know Bressie?” 

“Bressie, Zayn’s father, and I… we defeated Sin ten years ago. Then I went to Zanarkand to watch over you, lad. Until the day would come when I’d have to bring you to Spira.”

“Why me?”

“Because Bressie asked.”

Niall furrowed his brow. “What… why?” 

Paul gave Niall a grave stare. “Sin… is Bressie.”

Niall would have laughed if Paul didn’t look so serious. And he didn’t look like the joking type.

“No... no... No, it can’t be,” Niall kept repeating “no” as if that would reject what Paul just told him. “That’s impossible! It can’t be true!”

“It is true,” Paul firmly replied.

Niall breathed in sharply, wanting to scream. His entire world was shattered. There was no waking up from this nightmare. If Bressie was Sin… that meant that it was Bressie who had been destroying everything, destroyed Zanarkand and took Niall away from home… but he wanted him to… be in Spira?

“I know it’s a lot to take in…” Paul started, “But we don’t have much time to dally around. Sin must be stopped.”

Niall was silent, fists closed together. “This is all such a load of shite… but if it’s true, then I wish Bressie really was dead! Better than this fucking nightmare he’s sucked me into!”

Paul approached Niall. “You don’t mean that…”

“Maybe I do!” Niall shouted back. Then he felt himself on the verge of tears, stuck in his throat.

“I know it’s frustrating, lad… and it’s your decision to come along and fight Sin or not. So come or stay.” 

“My decision? None of this has been my decision!” Niall snapped.

Paul sighed. “Fair point…”

“This is all just mad…” Niall slumped forward, looking at his feet. “Paul… you think I’ll ever get home to Zanarkand?”

“I don’t know, lad. That may be up to Bressie,” Paul replied. He clapped a hand on Niall’s shoulder and gently squeezed.

 

_~_

 

Zayn, Louis, and Liam were waiting at a cliffside while Paul basically forced Niall to follow him. Paul made it clear to Niall that he was going to join Zayn’s pilgrimage, to defeat Sin.

Louis had just given his trophy to his teammates to keep while he left on his pilgrimage.

“You’ll be back for this, right? I mean… it’s yours, Louis,” Stan told him.

Louis grinned. “No, it belongs to Besaid.” 

Stan and the other Aurochs bowed, made the sign of the prayer, and left just as soon as Paul and Niall made their way up the path.

“Sir Paul!” Zayn gasped.

When Paul reached Zayn, he bent down on one knee and bowed forward. “I would like to offer my services to be your guardian, Lord Zayn.” 

Zayn looked flustered and uttered out, “Uh…”

“Do you not accept?” Paul asked.

“Yes!” Zayn quickly replied. “I mean… Yes, Sir Paul, I would be honored to have you as a guardian.” He bowed and made the sign of the prayer.

“Wow, Sir Paul… I… I heard stories about you when i was a kid!” Liam gushed.

Paul ignored him and told Zayn, “And I go on one condition, the boy comes, too.” He gestured to Niall with a thumb.

Liam looked a bit disconcerted but Louis had a grin that covered half his face. “All right!”

Zayn smiled at Niall. “Of course he can come.”

Paul nodded and gave Zayn a smile--Niall almost thought he was incapable of that. “Good. We best head off soon.”

Zayn nodded. “Yes, Sir Paul.”

 

Before they set off, Louis and Liam walked down the path toward the island and filled Paul in about the itinerary of the pilgrimage.  Zayn stayed and stood at the precipice of the cliff, watching over the ocean.

Niall was standing near Zayn, but not feeling very present. He was still reeling from the shock of hearing about Bressie and from realizing concretely that this bizarre dream was real. He may never get home to Zanarkand.

So Niall stared out at the water, all he could do because everything else was white noise. 

“Hey, Niall, look!”

Or maybe not everything.

It was Zayn who had called to Niall, grinning brightly at him. Then he put two fingers in his mouth and let out a loud, long whistle.

Niall let a corner of his mouth tilt up. “Wow, you got good at that...”

He couldn’t help but feel a bit off balance, now that Zayn was the one who was excited and he felt like he was still under a dark cloud.

“You okay?” Zayn asked softly.

“Huh?” Niall asked, without much feeling.

“You seem a bit… sad,” Zayn followed up.

Niall tilted his head and twitched his lips in accordance. “Eh…”

“Feel like screaming?” Zayn asked, a clever and all-too-knowing look in his eye.

Niall breathed out a laugh. “Nah.” At least… not anymore.

Zayn got a bit closer to Niall, though he wasn’t looking at him, he was looking out at the sea.

“You know, it’s kind of embarrassing for me to say but… summoners and guardians, they’re kind of like Spira’s ray of light, so… it’s kind of our duty to keep everyone’s spirits up. To maintain hope.”

Niall hummed in response. He could tell Zayn had his own apprehensions--he could imagine, being the one with all the pressure to save the world? That couldn’t be easy. But Zayn seemed to act like all of this was natural. He still managed to greet everyone he met with charm and grace, and you wouldn’t even guess that he was really traveling to defeat a deadly monster that brought fear to everyone in the world. 

“When I get sad,” Zayn continued, “I can’t let it consume me, and I definitely can’t have a face like that,” he pointed at Niall’s face.

Niall frowned, and then half-heartedly chuckled. “Hey…”

Zayn smiled, “Heh, I’m only kidding. Sort of. But anyway, I’ve learned to practice smiling when I get sad. There’s a lot of people depending on me, and I can’t let their light go out, and if all that takes is a smile from me, then I’ll give that to them.”

Niall nodded and answered, “I think I understand.”

Zayn briefly nodded, then he lost his smile and gave Niall a serious look. “I know how hard it is…but we can try together?”

Niall stared at him, speechless. How could Zayn have enough empathy to worry about other people’s feelings on top of his own, when he was the one with the biggest burden?

“So how about it? Can I see you smile?” Zayn asked him with an eager look in his eyes. 

Niall sighed. Zayn was waiting, his vibrant eyes holding their gaze on Niall.

He stretched his lips together and tried his hardest to give a smile. Zayn raised an eyebrow, an amused smirk creeping on his face. Niall took two fingers and tilted up the corners of his mouth to make the smile bigger.

Zayn bent over and laughed.

“This is stupid, isn’t it,” Niall said as he groaned and felt his cheeks warm.

“No, it’s not! Now, I want to hear you laugh. You have such a great laugh,” Zayn told Niall with a warm look. 

Niall sighed, then took in a deep breath. He really didn’t feel like laughing and he felt stupid doing all this in front of Zayn, but he couldn’t disappoint that face.

“HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!” Niall bellowed, putting his hands at his hips and raising his head to the sky. “AH HA HA HA HA HA HA!”

He took in a deep breath to continue, “Ah… HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!”

Zayn put his hands up and gave Niall a concerned grimace. “Umm, Niall… you can stop laughing now…”

Niall smirked at this, but he was on a roll, and if he were honest, this was a bit cathartic. He took in another deep breath and “AH HA HA HA HA HA HA!”

When he glanced to his side, he noticed Zayn move into the same position he did, hands at his hips, chest protruded, and chin raised high. They grinned at each other and then at the same time, “HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!”

“AH... ahahahaha!” Niall broke into real laughter and bent over, his cheeks hurting. Zayn was giggling too as he bent over, hand to his chest. His nose and eyes crinkled together and he bit his tongue as he laughed--Niall had never seen him so unbridled and it was adorable. Niall himself was still giggling and smiling and he was so thankful that Zayn had brought this out of them both.

Once they stopped laughing and caught their breath, Zayn placed a hand on Niall’s shoulder and grinned at him. “Thank you for that. I think… from now on, I want my journey to be full of laughter.”

“Okay, Zayn.” Niall smiled, feeling much better now.

“And Niall... if we ever get separated, just whistle and I’ll come running. I promise,” Zayn told him with a tender look.

Niall nodded.

As he and Zayn walked back to the others, Louis had a judgmental look on his face, eyebrow raised high.

“What?” Zayn jovially asked.

“Nothing, just... Have you both gone fucking mental?” Louis asked.

Niall and Zayn met each other’s eyes and then started to laugh again.

“Oy,” Louis moaned, though a smirk crept up his mouth. Even Liam was smiling at Niall and Zayn.

 

~

 

From Luca, the group headed on foot to Mi’ihen, from which they would travel on foot to get to the Temple of Djose.

When greeted by the villagers of Mi’ihen, a woman had remarked to Zayn, “I look forward to another Calm, my lord.”

Zayn bowed and made the sign of prayer. “I would be honored to bring an era of Calm, ma’am.”

Niall asked, “What’s a Calm?”

Liam sighed, though this time he seemed a bit less exasperated with Niall’s ignorance. “A Calm is a period of peace. It begins when Sin is defeated and lasts until Sin reappears.”

“Oh… So… Sin never goes away for good…” Niall crossed his arms. “Huh… well, now that makes sense why everyone was talking about having defeated Sin, even though Sin is still here… But if that means that even if you defeat him, he’ll come back, then… umm…”

“Don’t say it’s not worth it!” Zayn interjected with an impassioned expression in his eyes. “Because it is. If it gives people a few years of sleeping well at night without fear… that time is precious. And… it’s worth it.”

Niall swallowed and then he nodded. He couldn’t imagine living in fear all the time. Peace was a luxury here, and a night of sleeping without a worry, of never having to wonder if it would all end the next day… that had to be priceless.

 

~

 

“Hey, kids, we’re going to stop here to rest,” Paul announced after they had been walking for miles and the sun was already starting to go down. They reached what was supposed to be an inn, a very small, colorful, dome-shaped building that looked more like a tent than an inn.

 “It’s an Al Bhed shop!” Louis protested as he pointed at the tent on the grassy hill.

“And your point is?” Paul raised an eyebrow.

Louis furrowed his brow. “Well… they don’t believe in Yevon and… they kidnapped Zayn earlier! There’s no fucking way I’m sleeping at an establishment owned by Al Bhed!” 

Niall glanced toward Zayn, who sighed and looked disheartened at Louis’s outburst.

“Well, tough luck—we’re staying here because you need rest, Mister Blitzball Superstar,” Paul steely told him.

“I’m fine!” Louis argued.

“You’ve been limping for the past two miles,” Liam interjected.

“Shut up, Liam!” Louis snapped.

“Well I’m tired,” Paul grumbled, and he went ahead toward the Al Bhed inn.

“Who made him the boss?” Louis asked as he threw up his hands in exasperation.

“Feel free to find your own shelter,” Paul told Louis. “There isn’t any other place for miles.”

Niall walked forward to follow Paul and shrugged. Zayn followed him, and then Liam. Louis had his arms crossed and stubbornly stayed outside until Liam was the last one inside.

“Wait!” they could all hear as he came running.

 

~

 

The next day at twilight, Niall walked out of the inn and saw Zayn sitting criss crossed at the edge of a nearby grassy cliff all by himself. Niall audibly gasped at how beautiful the sunset looked on the water. Calm and peaceful, and Zayn’s presence fitting right along with it. Paul was keeping watch, but no one else was around, and it was quiet. Niall wondered what Zayn was doing hunched over his chest, and wandered over to sit next to him.

“Hey!” Niall said as he approached Zayn and sat down on the grass next to him.

“Oh, hey!” Zayn replied as he seemed to hold a piece of cardboard to his chest.

Niall glanced towards it and noticed his hands were covered with different colored splotches of paint.

“What you got there?” Niall asked as he crossed his legs, following Zayn’s posture.

Zayn glanced down, a bit bashfully it seemed. “Just… a little something I was working on.”

Niall sat up taller and peered over Zayn, exaggerating in his attempt to see what he held to his chest. “Can I see?”

Zayn softly chuckled. “Sure, Niall…”

He lifted the cardboard from his chest and revealed a square piece of canvas and a half-finished finger-painting of the cliff and the sunset he was witnessing in real life.

Niall’s mouth dropped open. “You… just did this right now?!”

“Aha… yeah…” Zayn sheepishly replied.

“Zayn, that’s beautiful! That’s amazing!” Niall exclaimed.

Zayn laughed. “Really, you think so?”

“I’m shit at painting, drawing, anything to do with art really,” Niall chuckled. “You have a gift. Multiple gifts!”

“It’s just something I do for fun,” Zayn said with a shrug. “Wish I had more colors, but I’m just trying to blend as much as I can to get the right shades…”

Niall saw that he had a small wooden plate where different paints were distributed. He smiled. “I think you’re doing a wonderful job.”

Zayn stared at Niall, his eyes holding an amusement to them as his cheeks pushed against them. “Niall… why are you always so…?”

“So what?” Niall asked, feeling a bit self conscious.

“You’re so bright, like the sun,” Zayn told him with a grin. “You see things, shine light on things that no one notices… that I don’t even notice sometimes.”

Niall smiled gently, then frowned. “It’s funny you say that… I haven’t really felt quite as bright as I used to be…”

Zayn stared at  him carefully. “Because you want to go back home…”

“I want to help you, too…and I like being with you and the others...” Niall glanced down. “Although… nothing else makes sense to me. Zayn… why does Sin keep coming back?”

Zayn sighed. “Well, for as long as we’ve known, Sin is a punishment for humankind’s vanity. A thousand years ago, there was a huge machina war and then Sin came to destroy all the big machina cities. So… since then, we try and atone for it, hoping that may stop Sin from coming back. And then, of course, a summoner makes the pilgrimage in the meantime to bring the Calm.”

Niall bent his brow. “So… machina is bad? I remember Louis saying that the Al Bhed don’t believe in Yevon and that they use machina, but it’s frowned upon? But… how is everyone supposed to atone for something people did a thousand years ago? And… who decided that?”

“Yevon, of course,” Zayn replied.

Niall scoffed. “You know… I never even heard of a Yevon in my Zanarkand. Sure, there was God, but… whether you believed in him or not was up to you.”

“What are you saying?”

“I’m saying… everyone’s putting their faith into Yevon and this idea that they must atone for sins committed long ago like it’s fact, not a legend… and that’s supposed to justify a monster destroying homes and killing people? Doesn’t really seem… well… healthy...”

Zayn was quiet for a while. “Well… when you put it like that… it does sound very bleak.”

“Niall, Lord Zayn, we should rest up,” Paul ordered as he seemed to appear behind them without any warning.

“Okay, Sir Paul,” Zayn replied. “But let me finish this painting.”

“Five minutes,” was all Paul said before turning around and standing back at his post just outside the inn.

“Sorry for ruining your mood…” Niall told Zayn.

“You didn’t,” Zayn replied, sending him a gentle smile. “I have the most enlightening conversations with you, Niall.”

“Still… I hope I didn’t insult you or anything…”

“Niall, I know our world is strange to you, and questioning it is completely natural. I don’t think anyone else really ever does—question it, I mean. You know, the more I’ve grown up, the more I’ve realized… I don’t really know much about the world.”

Zayn turned to Niall. “That sounds dumb, huh?”

Niall shook his head. “Nah, of course not! At least… you and I are the same.”

“It’s all kind of dizzying to think about—which is probably why most people don’t,” Zayn said with a chuckle. Niall laughed with Zayn until they lulled into another silence.

“…You think I can really do this? Defeat Sin?” Zayn quietly asked.

“Yeah, I do,” Niall replied. “But… how do you even beat something that huge?”

“The Final Summoning,” Zayn answered.

“Final Summoning?”

“It’s the Final Aeon I get from the final Fayth after reaching the end of my pilgrimage, in Zanarkand.”

“In Zanarkand?!”

“Well… I’m thinking it’s probably a different Zanarkand than the one you’re from… because I’ve heard it’s ruins.”

Niall nodded. “I heard that, too…”

“Well, no matter what it looks like… Zanarkand is where my journey ends,” Zayn said as he gazed back out at the water.

“Until you defeat Sin, you mean,” Niall told him with a grin. “Then… you’ll have a whole Sin-less future to think about.”

Zayn stared at Niall for a few seconds, looking a bit sad. “Yeah, I guess…”

“Hey, what’s the long face for? You can definitely defeat Sin! I believe in you!”

Zayn’s gaze softened as he started to smile.

“One minute!” Paul called out from his post. Niall and Zayn looked to each other and laughed.

“Guess… I better not keep you out here much longer before Paul kicks my ass,” Niall joked.

Zayn giggled. “I guess so…”

Niall stood up and stretched, taking one more gaze at the sunset. “Sorry again… for all the questions. I probably sound like a weirdo to you, don’t I?”

“Not at all!” Zayn protested. “I’m glad you came out here and sat with me. And… you just reminded me of what I forgot.”

“Hmm?”

“Blue,” Zayn replied cheerfully as he dabbed bright blue paint with his pinky finger to fill in spaces along the water in his small painting. “Sunsets are full of gold and rose, but… your eyes, reminded me that there is always still a bit of blue in the water.”

Niall smiled as he studied the painting that was presented to him once Zayn was done.

“I want to remember all the moments and the places that brought me happiness,” Zayn told him.

“This is one of them?”

“I always have wonderful moments with you,” Zayn said with a smile.

“Really--or you just say that to everyone to sell your paintings?” Niall joked.

Zayn laughed, then pushed at Niall. “Well, how much would you pay me?”

Niall’s laughter faded as he gazed on Zayn’s painting, and then his eyes went back to Zayn and became soft. “Zayn... this is priceless.”

Zayn smiled and said no more, so neither did Niall, and they watched as the sun finally dipped below the water.


	6. Perspective

When the gang resumed the pilgrimage and approached Djose, they were barred access on the main path by two Crusaders.

 Zayn creased his brow. “What is the meaning of this? I am a summoner, I must be on my way to complete the pilgrimage.”

“We are sorry, Lord Zayn,” one of them apologized, bowing at the same time. “We must keep civilians from traveling any further. It’s for your own safety.” 

Zayn turned back and looked at Paul. “Sir Paul, what shall we do next?” 

Paul crossed his arms and was about to say something to the Crusaders, but someone else spoke.

“Let Lord Zayn pass.” Niall whipped around and recognized that voice. It was Maester Swift, who had seemed to appear out of nowhere with a man who was also in a robe similar to the ones that priests wore in temples.

“Maester Swift!” the Crusaders gasped.

She curved her red lips into a smile and zeroed in on Zayn. “I am so sorry, Lord Zayn, but precautions have been put into order to protect civilians."

“From what?” Zayn asked.

The Crusaders explained, “A united force made up of Crusaders and other volunteers is going to attempt an operation, called Operation Mi’ihen, an ambush and assault on Sin--once and for all!”

Zayn, Liam, and Louis gasped.

Paul scoffed. “What?”

“Sir Paul…” Maester Swift started in that flowery voice, ignoring his disdain. “Such an honor. Tell me, what have you been up to these past ten years?”

Paul crossed his arms and gave her a grave stare. “Would your grace care to explain what you’re doing here first?”

Maester Swift shrugged a shoulder and tossed her golden hair aside from her cheek. “As a Maester of Yevon, it is my duty to fight Sin. I wanted to show my support.”

 Niall raised an eyebrow.

 "If you would like to continue your pilgrimage, or watch how this assault proceeds, you may follow me,” Maester Swift told Zayn.

Zayn nodded. “Yes, I want to press on.”

Maester Swift extended a hand, her long pointy fingernails shining. “Take my arm, Lord Zayn. And I assure you that as long as you are next to me, you will not be harmed.”

Zayn swallowed, glanced back at his guardians and Niall, and then linked his arm with Maester Swift’s. “Thank you, Maester Swift. It’s very kind of you.”

She grinned, blinking her eyes closed. “It’s my pleasure to assist you, Lord Zayn.”

Niall realized he was staring at Zayn and Maester Swift with a tense expression as they walked along, and consciously made an effort to unclench his jaw. He had such a bad feeling about her, but he didn’t know why.

Maester Swift led the group down to the beach, where a small army of Crusaders was preparing for a battle under a stormy sky. Niall noticed the movement of what looked like military grade weapons, and he also noticed that the people moving them were Al Bhed, at least, they spoke a language similar to what that Al Bhed boy Harry was speaking.

Louis grimaced. “They’re using… machina?!”

Maester Swift shrugged. “Oh… yes.”

Louis blinked rapidly. “But… using machina is against the teachings of Yevon! And… these are Al Bhed… they don’t believe in Yevon! Maester… how are you… how are you okay with this?”

Maester Swift leisurely sighed. “We’re all fighting the same thing--Sin. Does it really matter how it’s done?”

Liam’s jaw dropped. “But… you’re a Maester, how can you condone this?”

“If it makes you feel better, just pretend I didn’t,” she replied with a giggle.

Louis opened his mouth in shock and disdain. “How can you say that?”

“You should be rejoicing… the Crusaders and the Al Bhed are uniting for once, and for the cause of saving us all,” Maester Swift calmly replied.

Zayn was watching this conversation silently and looking deep in thought. “If it brings people from diverging faiths together, this Operation may actually be a good thing.”

“Zayn!” Louis cried.

“Maester Swift… makes a lot of sense,” Zayn said as he smiled at her.

She graciously smiled back.

Niall hated to admit it but… she really did have a point. Prejudices of belief… really didn’t matter if people were united against a common enemy.

But if only that were enough.

 

~

 

Despite their hopes and the conviction of the Crusaders, the Operation failed. Lives were lost and Zayn and company barely escaped with their lives, with the help of Maester Swift.

Sin had come--or Bressie, Niall supposed and wreaked his usual damage. But for a second, it almost felt like Bressie was listening to him, pleading to him… for it to end. But the Crusaders and the Al Bhed, even with their machina weapons, were no match for the monster they provoked.

Paul and Niall were watching over the desolate scene as Zayn performed a sending for the souls who perished.

“Hey, lad…” Paul started.

“Yeah?” Niall asked as he looked up at him.

“Don’t tell Zayn about Bressie and Sin."

“Huh? Why?” Niall asked. “It’s not like anyone would even believe me.”

Paul stared at Niall carefully. “Zayn would.”

Niall glanced down, nodding. Paul was right. Zayn would.

Paul sighed. “If he knew he had to defeat Bressie, he’d take your feelings into consideration. He wouldn’t want you to resent him, so he’d take on the burden and lessen the pain by distancing his connection with you. That’s the kind of person Zayn is. He cares so much, he’d be willing to end things before anyone got hurt. But we can’t have that. Right now, it’s best that you be there as his support.”

“How do you know so much about what kind of person Zayn is?” Niall asked, genuinely curious.

Paul broke into a small grin. “Because he’s a lot like his father. Selfless, able to make the difficult decisions. Quiet, but strong. Not always quiet, though,” Paul softly chuckled.

Niall nodded. He’d noticed the same things about Zayn. “Paul, do you think it even matters that I’m there for Zayn?”

As if on cue, Zayn had just glanced over at Niall from down the shoreline and gave him a sad smile. He had finished the Sending.

Niall gently smiled back at him.

“I think it matters more than anything,” Paul told Niall.

 

~

 

Zayn and his company pressed on, and Niall was awed to see Zayn still smile and be optimistic about heading off to the remaining temples.

Even though there were still battles with fiends along the way, and each day reminded Niall of the fact that Zayn, who he was becoming so close with, was doing all of this to fight Bressie, who had turned into a monster, and who had just decimated an army with the most powerful manmade weapons… Despite all of that, Niall still found reasons to smile.

Zayn made sure to keep him smiling, and when Niall found Zayn looking lower than usual, he would do his best to make him smile, too. It was a reciprocal arrangement, not just between those two, but also between Liam, Louis, and sometimes Paul.

“Zayn…”

“Zayn…!”

“For Yevon’s sake, Zayn…”

Niall and Louis had been trying to wake Zayn up for the past five minutes so they could depart from their current inn. The previous day Zayn had finished attaining the aeon Ixion, a horselike creature that had powerful lightning magic, and he went to bed just a bit after. He seemed to sleep even longer than everyone else, though.

Even though Louis gently tugged at him, Zayn kept his eyes closed and pouted, pulling the sheets over his head.

Niall laughed. “What a prima donna!”

“Zayn’s always been so insufferable about sleeping in. To be honest, I’m surprised this hasn’t happened more often on this pilgrimage,” Louis whispered..

“Hey, you’re drooling and Niall’s here!” Louis playfully crowed into Zayn’s ear.

Zayn gasped and sat up, his hair tousled. “Alright, I’m up…”

Niall laughed. “You really care that much?”

Zayn blinked his big eyes at Niall and looked away. “I wasn’t drooling.”

Niall giggled. “Get up lazy!”

Zayn narrowed his eyes. “Don’t call me lazy!”

“Well let’s get a move-on!” Louis told him witha  playful caress of his chin. Zayn batted him away and then finally stood up.

“Fine…” he muttered.

Niall chuckled. He liked seeing a less immaculate side of Zayn. His hair really was tousled and his facial hair had been growing a bit, so he did look a bit less polished than when he first met him.

When Louis, Zayn, and Niall walked to meet everyone else outside of the inn, Liam grinned.

“Finally, he awakens! Need more beauty sleep, Zayn?” Liam joked.

“No!” Zayn grumbled.

Paul laughed.

“Hey, Sir Paul… you’re not supposed to be laughing along with them when they make fun of me!” Zayn protested. "Make them stop."

“Sure, as soon as you get your hair sorted..” Paul chuckled.

Zayn frowned and quickly ran his palms across his hair. Meanwhile, everyone laughed, and Niall couldn’t help but laugh along, too. He appreciated that… despite all the seriousness of this pilgrimage, they were still able to make jokes and lighten it up for Zayn.

 

As they set off for their journey and Zayn finally seemed to be back to his lucid self, he stopped Niall with a hand on his arm.

Niall’s heart skipped at the touch.

“Yeah, Zayn?” Niall asked. Everyone else stopped.

“Niall, will you officially be my guardian?” Zayn asked.

 Niall glanced to the other guardians, and then back to Zayn. “Sure.”

Zayn smiled. “Good, I’m glad.

“You’re sure about this, Zayn?” Liam asked, arms crossed.

Zayn nodded. “Yes, I trust Niall with my life. Just as I trust you and Louis and Sir Paul with it, as well.”

“Okay, Zayn,” Louis said with a grin. He walked forward and clapped a hand on Niall’s shoulder. “The more, the merrier, right!”

Niall swallowed and turned to Zayn. “Thank you, Zayn, it’s an honor.”

Zayn shortly nodded, and looked at him warmly.

Paul nodded in accord.  “Well, we’re about to test your abilities. Remember, Niall, as a guardian, you must be willing to protect the summoner with your life.”

Niall nodded. “Okay. I’m ready.”

Up the path were some fiends and Niall took the front this time, placing himself ahead of Zayn alongside Paul. Zayn summoned Ixion, giving him a caress along his nose before sending him off to battle, and then Niall and Paul used their swords to finish the job.

“Not bad,” Liam told Niall with a smirk once the battle had ended. Niall smiled back at him.

He felt good, and felt useful for once, like he had an actual purpose now by protecting Zayn.

 

~

 

In a couple days’ traveling, the gang reached the Moonflow, from which they would travel to get to the temple of Macalania, where Maester Swift resided as High Priestess, and where Zayn would pray for the next aeon.

“A summoner?! It is an honor,” a traveling villager commented as they crossed paths.

 “Thank you,” Zayn cheerfully replied.

“My lord, I would proceed on your pilgrimage with caution,” the villager told him. “There has been talk of summoners recently going missing on their pilgrimages. Please be safe.”

“As his guardians, we will keep Lord Zayn safe from any threats,” Liam stated as he got next to Zayn.

Zayn smiled at him. “Thanks, Liam.”

“They’re not just disappearing into thin air, and all summoners are required to have at least one guardian,” Paul muttered. “We should be vigilant.”

“Yes, of course!” the villager replied. “Fare well on your journey, my lord.”

Zayn made the prayer of Yevon. “And may you also fare well.”

Niall learned earlier that Zayn wasn’t the only summoner trying to become High Summoner and defeat Sin, and they had run into a couple other summoners on their pilgrimage so far. But the fact that Zayn was famous and had already once been the target of kidnapping heightened his awareness.

After they got through the woods and emerged to a river, the bank of which was full of violet flowers and gently soaring pyreflies, Niall gasped and looked around, “Wow… This is incredible! Look at all the flowers.”

Zayn smiled over at him. “I’ve only been here once, but this place has always been one of the most memorable. These are moonlilies, and at night a cloud of pyreflies is supposed to form and glitter all along the water…. like stars in the sky!”

Niall grinned in enthusiasm. “That must look amazing…”

“Yeah, that's why this place is called the Moonflow. When the moon comes out and lights up the river along with the pyreflies... I’ve heard it’s one of the most beautiful sights in all of Spira. I bet it looks otherworldly…” Zayn said with a short grin.

 _You look otherworldly,_ Niall thought in his head as he gazed at Zayn among the blossoms. And then he mentally slapped himself. He was supposed to be backing off…wasn’t he?

“Hey… why don’t we--”

“We’re not going to wait until nightfall,” Paul cut Niall off with a grumpy look.

“But….” Niall sighed.

“We can’t afford to make too many stops along the way, especially if summoners have gone missing around here,” Paul stated.

“Fine, we’ll come back after we defeat Sin!” Niall grinned at the rest of the group, who made noncommital gestures or noises of agreement. Zayn looked happy about it, at least.

“Paul’s right, though… we better keep going so we don’t miss the shoopuff!” Louis said as he gathered Niall into one of his arms.

“A shoo...puff?” Niall asked as he felt squished against Louis’s bicep.

Paul softly chuckled. “Ha, still using those things?”

“Hmm?” Niall asked.

Paul tilted his head. “Just you wait. This will be interesting.”

And boy, was it.

A shoopuff was apparently this large, elephant/dinosaur-looking creature that traveled through the water, but what was disconcerting about it was the little blue creature that seemed to be driving it. It spoke like a human--if with a weird accent--and its limbs resembled a frog’s… and so did its head, to be honest. Niall wasn’t sure what this thing was, but none of the others in the group really batted an eye.

Once they reached the north bank of the river, the group departed the shoopuff and were about to head off on the main path, but Niall wandered down the shore, spotting what looked like a person lying face down in the sand...wearing a bright, bizarre looking scuba suit.

“Hey…” Niall tentatively called to the person. “You… alright?”

The body seemed to twitch, and though this person’s limbs were awkwardly bent, as if they landed without preparation, they bounded up to standing position. Then this person began to unzip all the closures of their suit and tore off their helmet and goggles, revealing a head of long, curly brown hair.

After blinking his green eyes open and then focusing on Niall, the boy in the suit smiled at Niall.

“Oh, hey it’s you!”

It was Harry, the boy Niall had met back when he first found himself in Spira.

Niall’s eyes widened. “Hey! Harry! It’s you!”

Harry grinned. “I thought I’d never see you again!” Then he rushed forward and embraced Niall, who grimaced at the wetness of Harry’s limbs and hair.

But he was happy to see Harry again. “So.. what are you even doing here?”

Harry brushed his hair out of his eyes. “Well… hasn’t exactly been fun being on my own--and also, you ruined the machina on my ship!”

Niall frowned in confusion. “What are you talking about?”

“In Luca,” Harry said with a pout.

“You mean…that defense machina was yours?” Niall asked.

“Well… yeah, it was my ship after all!” Harry complained.

Niall furrowed his brow “So... you were involved in kidnapping Zayn?”

Harry sighed and rolled his eyes. “It’s not like that… I--”

“Niall, are you down here?!”

Niall turned to see Zayn calling for him, then he whistled.

“Zayn… Over here!” Niall called back.

Zayn smiled as soon as he met eyes with Niall and clumsily skipped along the sand. Liam was just behind him.

“Niall, are you okay? Oh!” Zayn sounded surprised, but not alarmed as he looked at Harry.

Niall replied, “I’m okay, I just… uh, ran into someone I met before.”

“Zayn?” Harry asked, grin wide on his mouth.

“Harry!” Zayn replied with his own grin.

Niall furrowed his brow as he looked between the two, who gave each other a vigorous hug. “Wait, you two know each other?”

Zayn cleared his throat as he released Harry. “He’s my… well…”

“Zayn and I go way back…” Harry added.

“Yeah… I remember you, from when we picked Zayn up from Bikanel Island,” Liam said, squinting his eyes as he took a good look at Harry, who was dressed in a bright, multi-colored and patterned, short sleeved shirt and tight black pants and boots that looked too pointy to be practical. He kept the goggles in his hair and lazily smiled at Liam as if they were familiar.

“Harry’s a family friend,” Zayn finally explained.

“Well, we’re not blood related or anything, but our mothers were best friends,” Harry remarked.

Niall blinked. “Your mother, Zayn? So she…”

“She’s Al Bhed. I’m half Al Bhed,” Zayn told Niall with a shrug.

“Oh…” Niall breathed out.

“Yeah, just don’t tell Louis,” Liam advised.

“Why not?” Niall asked.

Zayn sadly frowned. “His family… they got killed... because of a machina weapon gone wrong.”

“What?” Niall gasped.

Zayn looked down. “He was staying with Liam at the time, away from his family, and it's the only reason he's alive. His dad used to be a Crusader who worked with the Al Bhed. Because they develop all types of machina weapons to fight Sin, they let Louis’s dad have some of these weapons and… I guess it malfunctioned while they were all at home and… it was awful.”

 Niall swallowed. He had no idea. He knew Louis was an orphan..but to become an orphan in such a tragic way...

 “Since then… Louis has held a grudge for the Al Bhed,” Liam informed with a sad sigh.

“But… isn’t that… kind of… racist?” Niall asked.

Zayn and Liam stared at each other uncomfortably.

Zayn decided to answer. “To Louis, it’s more of a stance of morality and beliefs. It is against the teachings of Yevon to use machina. But the Al Bhed don’t believe in Yevon and they make heavy use of machina.”

“So it’s… religious prejudice, then…” Niall remarked.

“Well, Louis never really cared that much about Yevon’s stance on machina before his family perished,” Zayn continued. “But after, he hated the Al Bhed and thus, became more devoted to Yevon.”

“Is he going to hate me?” Harry asked, looking rapidly between Zayn and Liam.

“Not if we don’t tell him you’re an Al Bhed,” Liam flatly replied.

“It’s not like _I_ killed his family! And… an accident caused by a defective machina is not the same thing as murder,” Harry argued. “My family and I, at least… we would never do harm to someone. We only wish to help others with our inventions. We’re tinkerers! We build furniture and household items more than anything.”

Niall gazed upon Harry sadly. Harry was a weirdo and overfriendly but… he didn’t deserve to be hated just for his race or his beliefs

“Look, please just don’t tell him,” Zayn pleaded. “I don’t want him to get angry.”

“Well… all right, I guess. But doesn’t he know you’re half Al Bhed, Zayn?” Niall asked.

Zayn looked down. “No. I didn’t want to upset him at the time, because when I came to Besaid, it was still so recent and he was still so sensitive about it. And then… I just never found the right time to tell him, and his resolve to hate the Al Bhed just got stronger.”

“I just gotta act normal then, right? Then he won’t suspect a thing!” Harry grinned.

“You, normal?” Liam scoffed.

“Hey…” Harry drawled.

“I mean… in Harry’s defense, we did just get a ride from something called a bloody shoopuff from some blue little alien! At least Harry looks like he’s human,” Niall scoffed.

Zayn laughed and bent over so he was laughing into his palm. “This is just like when we were kids! Harry, you’ll always be the weirdo.”

“Hey!” Harry frowned.

“But that’s what I love about you,” Zayn gently told him.

Niall, Liam, and Harry all smiled then.

“Oi, what’s this?” They heard Louis yowl from not far away. He and Paul had come the same way Niall, Liam, and Zayn did.

Niall cleared his throat. “Um, well we found this boy named Harry and he—“

“I want him to be my guardian!” Zayn blurted out.

“What?” Louis blinked rapidly as he eyed Harry up and down. “Zayn, are you…”

“Harry and I knew each other when we were very little… we’ve kept in touch and I definitely want him on the pilgrimage. If… you would like to join us, Harry,” Zayn added as he turned to the green-eyed boy.

Harry straightened up and gave him a warm look. “Of course, Zayn. Of course I’ll protect you.”

Louis stared hard at Harry. “Well, that’s random, and… weird… but…if you insist, Zayn… “

Niall quickly blurted out, “He also saved me!”

Louis turned to Niall, quirking an eyebrow.

“Yeah… when I first landed in Spira after Sin attacked, Harry was the first one to find me and let me go aboard his ship… of course Sin came and knocked me in the water again, but…. Harry’s a good guy!”

Louis shrugged. “Well, it must be a blessing from Yevon that you’ve all ended up together coincidentally… Just be prepared to face fiends, Barry!”

“It’s Har-”

“We gotta keep going,” Paul interrupted. “We should get shelter before nightfall." 

Liam nodded and followed Louis and Paul up the path. Zayn, Niall, and Harry stayed behind.

Harry breathed out a big exhale. “Whew! I’m lucky he couldn’t tell I was Al Bhed!”

Niall glanced back at Harry and Zayn. “Wait… how can anyone even tell you’re Al Bhed if they don’t know your beliefs? I mean… you look just like us.”

“It’s the eyes,” Zayn answered.

Niall looked close and saw deep within Harry’s green irises, a faint dark-green swirl. “Whoa… So you really are an alien…”

Harry frowned. “Hey…. Well…  you have weird hair!”

Niall pouted and touched at his hair, which was only slightly softer and wavy than he usually styled it in Zanarkand.

Zayn loudly giggled, breaking the tension between Niall and Harry.

“Glad to have you both be my guardians!” Zayn said as he swung an arm around them both.


	7. An Inconvenient Proposal

On the path to the next temple, Zayn and his guardians traveled from the riverbank up north to Guadosalam, the city of the Guado race. It was deeply wooded, and the houses and other buildings seemed to be constructed and supported by large roots of trees. It was dim and lit by lanterns, so when Niall looked up to see the sky, he couldn’t see past the branches and wood.

 As soon as they entered the city, a tall, sprightly woman with shoulder-length hair tied into a short braids quickly stepped up to Zayn.

 “Lord Zayn, we have been expecting you!” she said as she reached out for his arm.

“Oi, back off of my summoner, lady! Who are you?” Louis asked, placing an arm across Zayn before this mysterious woman could touch him.

The woman blinked and then placed her hands together, bowing her head. “Forgive me, I should introduce myself. My name is Karlie, and I directly serve Maester Swift. She has requested that you come speak with her, Lord Zayn.”

Zayn’s eyes widened. “Wh--why?”

“I am afraid… I am not privy to that information. But we are so happy to have you here!” Karlie’s ribbon-bound hair bounced as she grinned.

Niall glanced at the others, who shared quizzical looks as well.

“If you would please come to the palace--your friends are also welcome…” Karlie said.

“Okay then,” Zayn said with a shrug.

Louis grumbled, “This better be quick.”

He hadn’t had much high regard for Maester Swift after what happened in Mi’ihen, and blamed the devastation on the fact that the Crusaders went against Yevon by using military machina.

The group followed Karlie through the quiet forest city to a palace.

“Sure is… kind of strange here, isn’t it?” Harry remarked to Niall.

Niall breathed out a laugh. “Funny to hear you say that.”

Harry didn’t laugh. “It’s not strange in the way you’re thinking… I just… have a weird feeling about being here.”

Niall glanced at Harry seriously. “If you’re worried about people knowing you’re…” he lowered his voice, “...you know… I’ll do my best to protect it. I’m kind of keeping my own secret, since I can’t tell anyone I’m from Zanarkand.”

“So… you really are,” Harry responded with a smile. 

Niall smiled back, happy to have at least a shared feeling of alienation with Harry.

The palace chambers were dark, and it looked like a feast was spread upon the welcoming suite. There was a pale green tint to the walls, even with swathing drapes in pastel colors hanging from the ceiling amid bright sphere lamps. In fact, there was a pale green tint to all of Guadosalam, even in the Guado’s skin.

“I wonder why Maester Swift needs to speak with me…” Zayn thought aloud after Karlie left them to summon the Maester. “Maybe… I’m not doing a good enough job as a summoner?”

“Zayn, shut up! Of course that’s not why!” Louis argued.

“You’re doing a wonderful job, Zayn, really…” Liam comforted.

Zayn warmly looked at them both. “Thanks, guys…”

Liam breathed out a sigh as he looked around the unique palace. “We… sure have come a long way from Besaid, haven’t we?”

Louis grinned, then clapped a hand on Zayn’s neck and another on Liam’s shoulder. “As long as the three of us stick together… we’re each other’s home. And Zayn… I know you’re stressing out… but please, don’t. Just breathe.”

Zayn took in a deep breath, then gazed at Louis with a smile. “Very sweet words coming from you, Lou. I never usually see this side of you around other people.”

Louis glanced at Niall, who he had just realized was listening in. Then his cheeks flushed red. “Whatever, who cares if other people know how much I love my family!”

“We love you, too,” Zayn told Louis as he brought him into a hug.

“How heartwarming,” came the voice of Maester Swift.

The group all looked up to see her at the top of the central staircase of the current chamber. She stepped down gracefully and walked straight to Zayn.

“Lord Zayn, I am so glad you are here.” She looked up and at the guardians. “And... the rest of you, of course.”

Louis had stepped back from Zayn and raised an eyebrow as he glanced to Niall.

“Please, come follow me. I have something to show you,” she directed to everyone, but kept her stare on Zayn.

Again, she lent her arm for him to hold, and Niall narrowed his eyes. It’s not like Zayn was in danger here, this time. 

“Be on your guard,” he heard Paul whisper from behind him.

“Hm? We’re in the palace with Maester Swift… you really expect monsters to be here?” Niall asked.

Paul dryly chuckled. “Fiends aren’t the only monsters in this world…”

Niall’s eyes widened. “Paul… Maester Swift is harmless, right? And she’s been helping us out a bit.”

“We must be wary of anyone who has power. Maester Swift has great power, you’ve seen it.”

Niall swallowed. “Do you… not like her?”

Paul sighed. “We have to go, lad…”

Niall dropped the subject and walked after the others. He was glad that at least he wasn’t the only one who didn’t completely trust Maester Swift. But if Paul didn’t like her… there had to be a good reason, right?

Karlie was still among the group and cheerfully said, “We are so happy to have guests here once again, truly!” Then her voice lowered. “It has been too quiet and somber since the passing of our Lady Germanotta.”

“Yes, Lady Germanotta was a great person and did so much good,” Liam added.

As Karlie went on with the smalltalk, Liam tapped Niall on the shoulder. “Lady Germanotta brought the faith of Yevon to the Guado. She was kind and believed in the harmony of all races.”

“Ah, good to know,” Niall whispered back to Liam.

“...at least we are so blessed that Lady Germanotta’s adoptive daughter was able to succeed her,” Karlie continued. “Isn’t Maester Swift just a wonderful light for Spira to have?”

Maester Swift had reached over to place a hand on Karlie’s shoulder. “Karlie, please… you praise me too much!” Though she was smiling and it didn’t look like she minded the praise at all.

Karlie blushed and blinked down. “Sorry, Maester Swift, it’s just… so hard not to talk so highly of you when you do so many wonderful things for our world.”

Paul quietly grunted. Niall hoped no one else heard that.

They finally made their way into a dark chamber and once the door was closed, Maester Swift stepped towards the center, an explosion of stars seemed to emerge from the ground and envelop all the walls and space of the chamber. In a flurry of artificial stars and a galaxy, it looked like the room was transporting through space.

Zayn gasped, “Wow!”

Niall was amazed by the sight too, though his awe turned to confusion once they were traveling among familiar buildings and skyscrapers surrounded by water. They were transported even further into the city so that it looked like people were just walking past Niall and his group within the same room.

There was no denying it after seeing it this close--this was Niall’s home, the city of Zanarkand.

“Zanarkand?!” Niall gasped.

“Correct,” provided Maester Swift. “Zanarkand, the great machina city, as it looked one thousand years ago. This is a sphere conjured by the memories and thoughts of the dead who wander the Farplane.”

Next, they got transported to what looked like someone’s bedroom. A woman with long silver hair was sitting on a bed.

“It’s Lady Yunalesca!” Zayn gasped.

“Yes, Lady Yunalesca lived in Zanarkand. As you well know, she was the first summoner to fight and defeat Sin. However, she did not do it alone,” Maester Swift explained.

Zayn was attentive, waiting to hear more as he looked over at Maester Swift.

She got closer to Zayn and gazed at him softly. “To defeat Sin, an impossible, undefeatable force--it took the power of a precious, unbreakable bond of love, a bond that is created when two hearts are bound for eternity.”

Niall looked at the scene and saw a male warrior walk up to Yunalesca and embrace her. When Niall turned to look back at Zayn, Maester Swift had leaned in close to him and was now whispering in his ear.

Niall furrowed his brow, wondering what that was about. Then the sphere image faded and the chamber went back to normal, the lights on this time.

Maester Swift was still whispering into Zayn’s ear, and then she moved away from him with a complacent smile on her lips.

Zayn, on the other hand, had his lips parted as his jaw dropped and his eyes were wide and unfocused, a look Niall only rarely saw when Zayn was feeling anxious.

Then Zayn put a hand to his chest and grabbed at his necklace. He glanced around quickly, swallowing, then he rushed away from Maester Swift towards Louis.

“Louis, you have water on you?” he hushed out.

“Yeah, sure Zayn!” Louis said as he quickly brought out his flask, which Zayn all but snatched from his hand and then downed.

“Zayn, you look red as a tomato,” Harry chuckled.

Zayn didn’t even say anything back to that because he was breathing out so hard.

“Are you okay, Zayn?” Niall asked.

“What did Maester Swift say?” Liam asked.

Zayn looked at everyone, then back at Maester Swift, and then back to the group. “She asked me to marry her!”

“What the...why?”! Niall practically shouted.

Paul moved forward this time, approaching Maester Swift. “You know that Zayn is on his pilgrimage. Why are you--”

“Of course I know. All summoners are charged with bringing peace to Spira. That is more than just defeating Sin,” Maester Swift calmly replied. Paul narrowed his eyes, not too happy about being cut off. “Zayn must ease the suffering of all his people, be a leader for the people. I proposed to Zayn as a Maester of Yevon. Imagine the joy our union would bring to the people of Spira.”

Paul glared at Maester Swift. “This isn’t like playing pretend as children--you can’t just show us a sphere and try to force us to believe that that and Spira’s ‘happiness’ justifies a serious thing like marriage! And for you to impose this upon Lord Zayn is--”

“Sir Paul, please! It’s alright…” Zayn quietly said as he approached them both.

“See, it’s alright,” Maester Swift added. “And it wouldn’t be playing pretend. I am fond of you, Lord Zayn.”

Zayn looked uneasy. Niall wondered how fond Maester Swift could actually be of Zayn...since they’d only really met three times.

“You may take your time to decide upon it, Lord Zayn,” Maester Swift told him with a grin. “Although… I hope your reply will be a favorable one."

 

~

 

As they walked away from the palace, Louis muttered, “I don’t like it. I don’t like this place one bit.”

“You know, Spira could use hope right now,” Zayn quietly started. “And the joining of a human and a half Guado… the joy it would bring to the people… and she says she would like to be my partner and lend me strength when I reach Zanarkand." 

“...You’re not seriously considering it, are you?” Niall asked.

“Doesn’t it seem all sudden?” Harry questioned. “I mean… how long have you even known the woman?”

Niall gawked. “Does… this kind of thing usually happen to summoners?”

“...No,” Louis said with a grumble as he crossed his arms. “...I wish I knew why Maester Swift would ask this, now of all times.”

“A token marriage can wait,” Paul bitterly said. “We must continue on our pilgrimage. No amount of momentary joy will keep Sin from causing death and destruction all over Spira.”

“Well… that’s a lovely way to put it,” Liam scoffed. 

“It’s the honest way of putting it,” Paul muttered.

“Token marriage,” Niall repeated. “You’re saying she only wants to marry Zayn because of how it would look?”

“Zayn’s also the most beautiful man in the world… that might have something else to do with it…” Harry mused.

“Harry!” Louis hissed.

“Like it’s something you don’t acknowledge. Isn’t that half the reason Zayn is a celebrity in Spira?”

Liam tilted his head. “Well, it would certainly be a high profile wedding. Zayn, the son of High Summoner Yaser, on his way to becoming High Summoner himself, marrying Maester Swift, Maester of Yevon and successor to Lady Germanotta… how beloved they both are by the public… it would almost be something like a royal wedding.”

Niall couldn’t argue with that. But he also remembered how Maester Swift had zeroed in on Zayn immediately when they got to Luca. There was something about her that Niall didn’t trust, something she had been planning for Zayn since way back… he didn’t know why he felt so suspicious…

Zayn was uncomfortably silent during everyone else's debate and he bit at his lip and adjusted the rings on his fingers. “I don’t know… I need to think it over. I’m going to the Farplane, to see my father.”

Niall was confused, because he thought the Farplane was where… dead people went, right?

“Guys, uh… how would we go to the Farplane if that’s where… dead people go? Spirits, right--like... how is Zayn’s father there? Or is Zayn the only one who can go there?”

Louis gave Niall a quizzical look. “You’re… really… clueless about everything aren’t you? What happened when Sin got to you?”

Niall heaved a great sigh. Louis still didn’t believe he was actually not from Spira.

They traveled through Guadosalam to what looked like a staircase to a holographic portal, those little floating lights--the pyreflies--floating all around.

“We can’t speak with the dead, but if you go in here, and you think of someone who has passed on, they will come to you. I just need to see my father,” Zayn told Niall.

Niall nodded, somewhat understanding.

Louis and Liam followed Zayn up the staircase but Paul and Harry stayed behind.

“Hey, why aren’t you two going?” Niall asked.

Paul crossed his arms. “I don’t need to go there. No need to search the past to figure out the future, not for me, at least.”

“What about you?” Niall asked Harry.

Harry crossed his arms and looked a bit uneasy. “They’re just memories inside there. Who needs to revisit those? It’s not like you can bring anyone back…”

Niall nodded. He supposed… there was a lot more to Harry than his eccentricity. A deepness, almost a sadness, that seemed to be in everyone he had met in Spira so far.

  
~

 

When Niall walked into the Farplane, he gasped at the beauty of it. They were on a plateau, high in the clouds and overlooking wondrous waterfalls and fields of flowers, pyreflies soaring all around. 

He saw Zayn standing in front of a man and woman, who both sort of looked like him. But he noted how his mom was fairer in skin and features, and his dad looked more like Zayn.

Niall quietly approached. “Hi Zayn… I hope it’s okay if I…”

“Of course,” Zayn told him warmly. It was the first time he had really smiled all day. Niall wished he didn’t have to go through all the anxiety he did earlier today.

“Your mom is really pretty…”

“Thank you.”

Niall looked down. “I didn’t realize that both you and Louis, even though he’d said it… you both lost your families.”

He glanced toward Louis at that moment and saw him smiling and crying in front of so many women and girls--they must have been his mom and sisters.

Zayn followed Niall’s eye line and then looked back to Niall. “Yeah… I lost my mother before I lost my father. I had sisters, too. It was Sin that took their lives, which… was why my father decided to become a summoner and fight for a peaceful Spira.”

Just then, three girls appeared in front of Zayn and Niall. They all looked like each other, all had beautiful eyes. Niall looked back at Zayn, who was smiling sadly.

“You and Louis have a lot in common, don’t you?” Niall thought out loud.

Zayn smiled. “You don’t know the half of it. That’s why… we got so close so quickly, you know. He’s someone that I feel… knows my soul like no one else.”

Niall nodded.

“Have you tried to think about Bressie?” Zayn asked.

Niall swallowed. “No…”

“You should, and we can find out whether he really is alive or not,” Zayn told Niall, beckoning to the clouds in front of them.

Niall wished he could see Bressie, and that maybe what Paul was saying about him being Sin wasn’t true. He took in a deep breath and thought of Bressie’s face in his mind, the way he would smile and laugh and joke and gently push him during their training sessions.

When Niall opened his eyes, he saw nothing.

“Well?” Zayn asked.

“He didn’t show up,” Niall said with a shrug.

Zayn grinned. “Then he must be alive!”

“Yeah,” Niall said with a purse of his lips.

 

~

 

When they were all done making their visits to the Farplane, the group reconvened at the bottom of the stairs.

“So, Zayn… did you decide?” Liam asked.

Zayn nodded. “I want to press on in my journey. This marriage… it might bring happiness to Spira… but so would a Calm.”

“Well said, lad,” Paul said approvingly. “Let’s go and tell Maester Swift!”

“Ooh! Wait!” was the cry of one of the Guado guards at the portal to the Farplane.

“Lady Germanotta!”

Niall turned around and saw a woman in robes with platinum blonde hair staggering. Her face looked tired, though her eyes were directly on Zayn, an arm reaching out for him.

Zayn gasped. “It’s Lady Germanotta!”

“Is she… Unsent?” Liam questioned.

“Zayn, you have to send her!” Louis urged.

Zayn swallowed and walked up the stairs to meet the lady spirit, who seemed to be lighting up with colors just like that holographic portal. Zayn had a guilty look on his face.

“I am sorry, but I must send you, Lady Germanotta…” He took out his staff, but despite him beginning the ritual, this spirit Lady Germanotta placed a hand on his.

Niall didn’t see what happened next because he heard a grunt behind him and turned around to see Paul kneeling down, looking pained.

“Paul, you okay?” Niall asked.

Paul breathed out deeply. “I’m alright lad… nothing to see here.”

Niall gazed at him in concern. Paul wasn’t that old, but he was still much older than him and the rest of the group. Maybe this pilgrimage and stress could be taking a toll on him…

He heard the sigh of the pyreflies and looked back at Zayn, who had apparently just finished the Sending. He had been kneeling down and stood up, then turned back to the group.

“We… should probably tell Maester Swift about this,” Zayn said.

“Someone else will, Zayn. Just focus on what you have to do for your pilgrimage,” Paul said. Niall whipped back around to see him standing like nothing had been bothering him in the first place.

Zayn nodded.

On the way back to the palace, Louis told Liam, “How come Lady Germanotta wasn’t sent?”

“She must have been--a Maester of Yevon, she had to be. Only… if a powerful spirit has a strong emotion tying them to Spira… they can come back, which apparently just happened.”

Louis sighed. “This whole visit is just getting stranger and stranger… the sooner we get out of here, the better!”

 

After they entered the palace, Zayn urged Maester Swift’s followers to disregard the pleasantries and summoned a meeting right away. 

“Have you come to a decision?” Maester Swift asked with a pleasant expression on her face.

“I really am flattered by your proposal Maester Swift, but I must respectfully decline it. I want to press on in my journey and bring Calm to the people of Spira as soon as I can,” Zayn told her in a somewhat shaky voice.

Maester Swift stared at him silently for a few seconds, then placed a hand on Zayn’s shoulder. “I understand, Lord Zayn,” she told him with another honey-like smile. “It is a big decision, and I did just present it to you so suddenly. So… I’ll give you some more time to think about it, and I believe you are headed to Macalania, next, yes? I will also be on my way to the temple, shortly. We will meet again there, and you will tell me your answer.”

Niall glared at Maester Swift. Why wasn’t she taking no for an answer?

Zayn blinked rapidly, then swallowed. “Um, well—okay, then. Maester Swift, thank you for your hospitality. We must make our way across the Thunder Plains now.” 

Maester Swift nodded, then bowed and made the sign of the prayer. Zayn did so in return, with everyone else in the hall following except for Niall and Harry.

“Psst!” Louis hissed at them under his breath. Niall and Harry quickly and messily did the sign of prayer while the Guado were still bowed over.

Then they left their separate ways.

“All due respect, Lord Zayn, but you have permission to be more firm in your refusal,” Paul told him.

Zayn seemed to flush at that. “Sorry… I just… didn’t want to be rude.”

“Well, it’s going to be disappointing to Maester Swift when you tell her your answer’s still no,” Louis chuckled.

Zayn shortly smiled back at him. Niall thought he saw something else going on in his head, he looked a bit more somber than usual.

“You said we were going across the Thunder Plains?” Harry cowered. “I don’t like thunder…”

“You can stay behind if you’re scared,” Liam joked.

Harry frowned. “I’m not scared!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Can anyone guess who Lady Germanotta actually is? :)


	8. Deceit

“Do we really have to go through these plains?!” Harry shouted as he cowered behind Liam, grabbing onto his shoulders.

“Wha--Harry, if you get struck by lightning, hiding behind me isn’t going to protect you,” Liam told him.

Harry frowned. “Well at least I won’t go down by myself!”

Thunder crashed and Harry buried his head into Liam’s neck.

Liam sighed and rolled his eyes, but he didn’t push Harry away.

The Thunder Plains were a stretch of dark, gray land with towers that attracted the frequent lightning strikes so that travelers could get across. However… these towers didn’t take all the lightning hits so they still had to be careful.

Harry whimpered, “Please! Let’s just stay at an inn! Let’s not go any further!”

Paul groaned, “We have to keep moving. And we should get to that temple before Maester Swift can try and say anything else to Zayn about getting married.”

Zayn stepped up to Harry and cupped his face in his palm. “Harry, it’s alright, we’ll stop.”

“Zayn…” Paul started.

Zayn turned around. “It’s been a… strange day. I think we can all use the rest.”

Paul sighed. “As you wish, my lord.”

 

~

 

They rested at an inn nestled within the Thunder Plains for the night. Harry insisted on staying in the room with both Liam and Niall for protection from the thunder and lightning (really, he just needed emotional support), meanwhile Paul and Louis shared a room. Zayn requested his own room, claiming exhaustion as the reason. Then the next morning before everyone was to head out, Zayn asked for everyone to wait.

“Zayn, what’s wrong?” Liam asked.

Zayn was looking down toward his feet. “I… I have to say something.”

“What is it?” Paul asked.

“Sir Paul, everyone…” Zayn picked up his head to look around at the crew. “I… I have decided that I am going to accept Maester Swift’s offer of marriage.”

There was a collective gasp. Niall felt his heart go cold.

“What? Didn’t you just say back there that… you weren’t going to?” Louis asked.

Zayn glanced down. “I know, but… I changed my mind.”

“Why?” Niall quietly asked.

Zayn didn’t look at him. “I still have to finish packing my things, but we should probably get to Macalania as soon as possible. Maester Swift will be waiting for me.”

Paul nodded, though he looked unhappy. “Fair enough. But… Zayn… you know what you’re getting yourself into?”

Zayn half-smiled at Paul. “Don’t worry, Sir Paul. I’ve thought about this carefully. And I still intend to complete my pilgrimage.”

Niall wondered why no one else was protesting. Doesn’t it seem weird to everyone that Zayn just suddenly changed his mind?

As they sat around the lounge waiting for Zayn—uncomfortably, Niall noted--Harry kept hopping from one foot to the other, Liam just frowned until the lines in his forehead seemed permanent, Louis kept breathing out heavily every other second, and Paul just… well, he looked annoyed most of the time, but this time was no exception.

“Does anyone else think it’s weird?!” Niall finally burst out.

Everyone looked over at him.

“I mean… come on, Maester Swift… and Zayn…? It’s… It’s just…”

“You jealous?” Harry joked, giving Niall a grin.

“What? No, of course not!” Niall answered right away, without really thinking about if he actually was or not. “Just… does Zayn even like her? Does he love her? Shouldn’t that matter?”

“Not to Zayn,” Liam said, a disappointed and glum look on his brow. “What Zayn wants most is to bring peace and happiness to Spira. If marriage with Maester Swift can accomplish that, then…”

“But what about Zayn’s happiness?!” Niall blurted out. “Doesn’t that matter, too?!”

Everyone was silent and Niall felt the heat rise to his cheeks, of anger, of embarrassment that he had gotten so passionate.

“Sorry I… I need to go…for a walk…” He turned and walked out of the inn and into the open plains, really not concerned if lightning struck him at the moment.

“Niall!” Harry plaintively called after him.

Niall knows Harry didn’t mean anything by his comment but… a part of him burned on the inside, and it wasn’t so much related as to whether this was the right thing to do or not. Niall didn’t care about that. What he cared about was that the idea of Zayn being with someone like Maester Swift--well, he supposed he didn’t really have a good reason to dislike her other than the fact that she just annoyed him, but just the thought of Zayn with anyone he didn’t love—made him feel…

“This is ridiculous!” Niall laughed aloud to himself. Then he crossed his arms over his chest and sardonically laughed again.

“Maybe you should go and tell him how you feel,” he heard Paul say.

“What?” Niall squawked, startled that he had been followed in the first place. “I don’t feel any way about Zayn!”

Paul rolled his eyes. “I meant… that you disagree about him marrying Maester Swift.”

“Oh..” Niall said, feeling embarrassed now.

Paul had his arms crossed and shook his head. “I’m not sure what’s going on in his head, and Louis and Liam support his decision no matter what. And… as long as he continues the pilgrimage, I won’t ask anything else of Zayn. But you… he might listen to you.”

Niall swallowed. “What do I even say?”

“Just be honest. Zayn seems to appreciate that about you.”

Niall nodded, then made his way back to the inn, and down the corridor of the rooms. He was about to knock on Zayn’s door when he heard something from behind it, a voice that wasn’t Zayn’s.

“Huh?” Niall questioned. Then he pushed open the door, worried if Zayn might be getting kidnapped again.

“Zayn!” he called as he burst in.

Zayn was there alone, and whipped around, stuttering as he saw Niall. “Niall--what are you—”

“Sorry…” Niall said as he looked down and rubbed at his neck. “I thought… I heard another voice in here, and thought… maybe you might have been getting kidnapped again. Are you okay?”

“Yes, I’m fine,” Zayn shortly said, flat look on his face. He shut something in his hands and slipped it into his trouser pocket. “Was that all you came in here for?”

Niall swallowed. “Um, well… I... “ He felt his heart rate increase and he was starting to sweat, just thinking of how to say this to Zayn. “I… I don’t think you should marry Maester Swift. I’m sorry but… it doesn’t make sense! Why did you change your mind?”

Zayn looked away from Niall. “I’m doing it for my people. We should go to Macalania as soon as possible. The sooner Maester Swift and I wed, the sooner we will bring joy and hope to the world.”

“What?” Niall sputtered. “Are you serious?”

Zayn creased his brow. “Niall… I’d appreciate if you didn’t try and stop me. This is my decision.”

Niall exhaled and muttered, “Do you even want to be married to her? Like… actually be her husband? You’d be okay with that... for the rest of your life?”

“Niall, just leave it alone!” Zayn snapped. Niall jumped back in surprise. He’d never seen Zayn get angry or that loud, and he was shaking with it now, intense gaze in his eyes, looking on the verge of tears.

Niall glanced down and bit at his lip. “I’m—I—I was just…”

“Oh gosh… no, I’m sorry, Niall…” Zayn sighed and closed his eyes, losing the fierceness in his face.  “Please… excuse me!” Zayn brushed past Niall to get to the doorway.

Niall couldn’t say anything after Zayn had left so suddenly.  And worst of all, Zayn seemed to be annoyed with him and Zayn had never acted coldly to him before.

Did Niall just mess things up?  
  


~

 

After getting through the Thunder Plains, the group had to travel through the Macalania Woods to reach the temple that was built atop a frozen lake just north of this region.

Zayn was quiet the whole time they were walking and Niall felt too awkward to try and say anything, knowing how their last exchange ended. No one seemed to be happy about Zayn’s decision and yet… no one else would say anything. It was frustrating.

The woods of Macalania were at least much more pleasant than Guadosalam. Here the branches and trees were similar in their massive size, though the air here felt clearer, and the foliage of the trees had a bluish, teal tint to them. Niall could see things glittering in the air among the trees like crystals, and from the ground were things that looked like gem rocks, but had to be something else.

It was peaceful, at least. Niall could revel in the quiet just a bit. The only thing is… now that Zayn was getting married to Maester Swift… he didn’t really know if he had a place here anymore. But he still wanted to support Zayn on his pilgrimage… and it’s not like he had anywhere else to go.

Paul had stopped in his tracks once they reached a big tree stump, and studied it closely.

“What you up to, Paul?” Niall asked as he stretched his arms behind him.

“It’s still here,” Paul said, smirking. Then he took his sword and hacked at the tree with great force, causing alarm to everyone. But when the dust cleared, a path formed and Paul walked through.

“Come along, kids!” Paul called to them.

Niall and the others followed Paul to what looked like a small spring that was glittering and bubbling with a soft current like a water fountain. There were orbs along one of the submerged trees that looked like spheres.

“Look!” Paul said as he smiled back to Niall.

“It’s… water?” Niall asked.

Liam chuckled. “I’ve heard of this place. It’s not regular water… it’s what spheres are made of.”

Paul knelt down near the root of a tree and fished something from the liquid. He brought out what looked like a small sphere and extended it to Niall.

“Bressie left a sphere here. It’s for you.”

Niall’s eyes widened. “For me? But how--”

Paul placed it in Niall’s hand. “He recorded a few things, so that he’d be able to show you when he came back to Zanarkand. Of course… by the time we came here… we kind of knew we wouldn’t be able to go back.”

Niall swallowed and stared at Paul. “Why would you all think that?”

Paul sighed. “Just watch it.”

Niall looked down at the sphere and opened it, pressing a small button on the side to play back the sphere video.

“Hi Chief!” It was Bressie, sitting cross-legged along a big tree root. Niall felt tears pull at his eyes. It was actually Bressie, smiling and waving to the camera. He really was here in Spira.

“If you’re watching this… that must mean you got sucked into Spira, just like me…” Bressie looked down. “It’ll be okay, Chief, just hang in there. I’m… sorry I haven’t been able to get back to ya. Uh… just know… I’m thinking about ya and… I know you’re going to turn into a good young man, without me.”

Bressie glanced away. “I don’t know what else to say… I just… hope you’re taking care of yourself out here, Niall. I hope I can see you again.”

When Niall glanced up again, he saw Zayn staring at him with a look of concern

“He would talk about you a lot, you know,” Paul told him. “Said you were almost like his little brother. You were special to him.”

Niall heaved a deep sigh. “Well, it doesn’t matter now, does it?”

“We might still be able to find him,” Zayn told Niall quietly.

Niall just stared at Zayn. He guessed Zayn wasn’t too annoyed at him to not care anymore. That was a good thing, at least.

 

~

 

After a long trek through the woods, they finally reached the snowy, cold reaches of the frozen lake that they would travel across to get to the temple of Macalania. It was sturdy enough to walk across, but it still looked like it would be a mile’s trek to get to the temple.

Niall grabbed at his arms, shivering from the cold.  “So… Maester Swift is here?”

As if they knew exactly when Zayn and his group would be getting here, Karlie arrived on a snowmobile, accompanied by two other Guado officials.

Louis spat out, “These are machina! What is the Maester doing using machina?!”

Karlie shrugged. “It’s useful and will save you much time to get to the temple.”

Louis crossed his arms. “This isn’t right! She doesn’t even have the excuse of supporting Crusaders and Al Bhed this time.”

“Lord Zayn, if you would come with me, I can take you to the temple,” Karlie said, ignoring Louis.

Zayn nodded and walked across the ice to meet Karlie. “Yes, very well.”

“Wait--you’re not going by yourself,” Liam interjected.

“Maester Swift would prefer to speak to Zayn alone. After all, it’s Guado tradition that these kind of matters remain private.”

Paul scoffed. “We’ll be right behind you, Lord Zayn. After all, we are your guardians and we will follow you anywhere you go.”

Zayn smiled at Paul. “Thank you, Sir Paul.”

Karlie looked put off and rolled her eyes. “Very well, we will send for you shortly.”

As Niall watched Zayn get on the back of Karlie’s snowmobile, Paul elbowed him softly in the stomach.

“Oi, what’s that for?” Niall asked.

“I stole your line, you fool,” Paul muttered.

“Oh!” Niall blushed. He remembered how Paul told him that Zayn needed his support and… well… Niall hadn’t even spoken to Zayn all day.

“Zayn!” Niall called out, though he and Karlie were starting off.

Zayn turned around and met eyes with Niall. “Yeah?”

“Uh…” Niall decided to whistle, the way he taught Zayn. “Remember?”

Zayn smiled at Niall. “Yes, I remember!”

Niall smiled back. He hoped Zayn wouldn’t have to call him for help… but if he needed it, he’d be there.

“This is fucking awful!” Louis spat out as he sauntered forward on the ice.

“What are you doing?” Niall asked.

“What does it look like? I”m not waiting for their machina,” Louis grumbled. “I’m walking--like we were meant to!”

 

~

 

They were all sent for with snowmobiles and only had to wait for Louis ten minutes before he caught up to them at the temple, where they had to wait anyway while Zayn was praying for the next aeon.

Louis was shivering and his nose and cheeks were rosy as he approached the temple.

“Look at you!” Liam exclaimed as he ran forward and wrapped his arms around Louis, then started to take off his own coat to place it over him.

“I’m fine, Liam!” Louis said. Niall could have sworn he started blushing, but his cheeks were already rosy from the frost.

Liam laughed uncomfortably. “Just… don’t want you to get sick. As guardians, we have to be in tip top shape, right?”

Louis let his mouth curve into a smile. “You’re worried about me…”

“Well of course I am!” Liam argued. Louis looked smug about this as he smiled downward.

“Let’s go, we should get Zayn out of here as soon as we can,” Paul told them all.

They were met by Yevonite priests and volunteers in the temple. Though as soon as everyone had stepped inside the main chamber, they heard a scream.

“Guardians!” It was a young woman who had come running to them in a panic.

“What’s wrong?” Niall asked.

She looked pale. “Please… you must watch this sphere we found in Lord Zayn’s belongings!”

The guardians all looked between each other with skeptical glances. Then they followed the woman into a small chamber where two other attendants were holding a sphere between them, looking distressed.

Niall frowned. “Zayn had been hiding something in his pocket when I went to talk to him in the Thunder Plains… is that what it was?”

“Let’s watch it,” Paul ordered.

One of the attendants pressed the button that activated playback. On the fuzzy screen of the sphere, they saw Lady Germanotta looking somber.

“Please, I hope this comes into wise hands… By the time you find this sphere, I will have been murdered by my own adoptive daughter, Taylor.”

Everyone gasped.

“There is darkness inside her heart, a hatred that burns and will lead her to commit treacherous acts. I failed to protect Taylor from the cruelty of those who would not accept her hybrid race. And so… she has built up resentment in her heart, not only for the Guado, but for humans and all the followers of Yevon.”

Lady Germanotta had a sorrowful expression on her fair face, and a tear fell from her eye. “Please, I beg of you! Stop my daughter, or else Spira will fall into ruin--don’t let her plans be fulfilled! She will try to deceive you, but please… in the name of Yevon and Spira, stop her!”

Louis and Liam had their jaws dropped and open. Niall tightened his hands into fists. He always knew there was something seriously wrong with Maester Swift...

“This is why Zayn agreed to marry her!” Harry gasped. “To stop her…”

Niall furrowed his brow, confused. “But… why… why tell us that he wants to marry her?”

“He wanted to get her alone and… probably try and speak with her, or fight her… on his own,” Paul muttered.

“Going against a Maester…that would be treason...” Liam thought out loud.

“He left alone so that he would be the only one implicated…” Paul muttered. “That stupid, selfless boy!”

“He’s stubborn enough and selfless enough to do this….and he was clever to put it under the guise of accepting her proposal, damn you, Zayn…” Louis growled.

“We better get going then!” Harry suggested. “Zayn can’t take on Maester Swift on his own, even with his aeons.”

“And if this Swift is capable of murdering Lady Germanotta… who knows what she might do to Zayn…” Paul grumbled.

Niall felt heat boil up in his chest. “Then let’s go! Now!”

 

~

 

When the gang reached the Cloister of Trials, Maester Swift was waiting outside of the chamber where Zayn was praying to the Fayth to get the next Aeon.

She leisurely  turned around to face them. “Well, didn’t expect you here so soon.”

“Maester Swift, we know you murdered Lady Germanotta!” Niall shouted.

Maester Swift just smiled.

“We have the sphere from Lady Germanotta to prove it!” Louis snapped.

“So… what have you come here for?” Maester Swift asked.

“We’re going to ask you to turn yourself in to the higher authority, and leave Lord Zayn alone,” Liam told her.

Maester Swift softly chuckled. “You just… don’t see it, do you? I have only done what I have to do to serve Yevon.”

Niall quirked an eyebrow. “How does murdering your own adoptive mother serve Yevon? And what batshit excuse is that?”

Maester Swift narrowed her eyes on Niall, her jaw growing taut. “What are you even doing here, boy? This isn’t your world…”

“He’s my guardian.” The gang turned to look up at the stairs, where Zayn emerged, looking a bit tired as usual after praying. He also looked angry.

Maester Swift blinked rapidly as her mouth dropped. “Lord Zayn, I hope the prayer was successful.”

“It was. Now what is going on here?” Zayn asked as he descended the stairs.

Maester Swift smirked at him. “You tell me. You never intended on really accepting my marriage proposal, did you?”

Zayn stared at her, then swallowed. “No.”

“Then I presume.. you’ve come to ambush me?” Maester Swift said with a melodic tilt to her voice, as if she were mocking Zayn.

“I’ve come to reason with you. Please… don’t let yourself fall to darkness, ” Zayn told her.

Maester Swift sighed. “Don’t be so naive, Zayn… It’s all for the greater good. And if Lady Germanotta had just stayed in the Farplane, so much trouble would have been saved.”

Zayn furrowed his brow. “She was your mother…!”

Maester Swift lost her grin. “Yes, she was my adoptive mother, but… she failed to protect her daughter from years of prejudice and alienation from being a ‘halfling’.”

“So… you killed her?”

“A necessary casualty,” Maester Swift sighed. “It wasn’t even for vengeance, if that’s what you think. No… I had far bigger plans, but now those plans are complicated by you meddlesome lot!”

Zayn rushed down the steps to join up with his guardians. “You won’t hurt them.”

“Well, I can’t let them leave,” Maester Swift giggled.

Paul bared his sword as he rushed to get in between Zayn and Maester Swift. “Don’t think we won’t fight back.”

“I had really hoped it wouldn’t come to this,” Maester Swift said, and then she conjured her staff from mid-air and gave the group a venomous stare. “But as long as you’re offering your lives--I will have to take them!”

“Shit,” Louis hissed as Maester Swift began to summon her aeon.

“Everyone, protect Zayn!” Liam ordered as he rushed in front of him.

“I’m fighting, too!” Zayn said as he waved his staff and summoned Valefor, who made a dynamic entrance.

It was a tough battle between aeons, magic, and strength. But Zayn's party defended themselves successfully and finally defeated Anima, Maester Swift’s powerful aeon--leaving her with only her dark magic to fight with. Once the party pushed her to the point where she was staggering and on the brink of death, she continued to hold her staff in an offensive position.

“Stand down, Maester Swift, please!” Zayn pleaded as he too was struggling for breath.

“Don’t plead to me, Zayn… This is why you need me, to be the strength you don’t have!”

Zayn shook his head and lowered his staff. “We shouldn’t be fighting… you’re a Maester and I’m a summoner! Why… why did it come to this?”

“I should kill you now, to spare you all the suffering that will come from the rest of your pilgrimage.” Maester Swift raised her staff again, ready to send a dark spell at Zayn.

“Reflect!” Liam was the one who cast the protective spell on Zayn just in time for Maester Swift’s dark spell to bounce back and hit herself in the chest.

She uttered out a sharp cry and then fell to the ground in a heap.

“Maester Swift...” Liam was shaking, Niall noticed. “I… I killed a Maester of Yevon…”

“We don’t know that! And you didn’t cast the dark spell, Liam--she did!” Louis argued.

“Let me check if she’s alive!” Zayn rushed forward and placed his fingers on Maester Swift’s throat. He looked down and then shook his head.

“Perform the Sending, now,” Paul urged.

Before Zayn could even make a move, Karlie, Maester Swift’s attendant, and half a dozen Guado guards burst into the chamber.

“What did you do?!” Karlie roared. She cried in horror as she ran towards Maester Swift’s lifeless body. She wrung her hands in grief and then glared up at Zayn. “Lord Zayn, you are a traitor, responsible for the murder of a Maester of Yevon!”

“Wait--hold on!” Liam shouted. “Lord Zayn didn’t do this and Maester Swift killed Lady Germanotta!”

“We’ll have none of your lies! Arrest them all!”

The gang engaged in a scuffle with the guards, careful not to kill anyone else, but in all the commotion, the guards had taken Maester Swift’s body away.

“No… she needs to be sent or else she will become an Unsent!” Paul hollered.

“Well, we won’t be able to send her if we’re arrested!” Louis shouted as he held off a couple guards.

“Hold on everyone, and hold your breath!” Harry shouted. He threw a few marble-looking objects out of his pocket, and they rolled onto the floor between the legs of the Guado. In a second, a dark cloud of smoke burst and was accompanied by a foul smell. Niall felt a hand wrap around his arm and drag him away, and soon he and the rest of the crew were on the run in the snow, outside of the temple.

But before they could get too far, Guado forces intercepted them and an ice monster faced them along the frozen lake. Even though they were able to defend themselves on equal footing with this Yeti-like creature, it was able to pound its fists onto the ice--forcing the lake to shatter and the entire party to fall down to the depths below the temple.

 

~

 

Niall’s head hurt after he landed and found himself in shallow lake water, but he was okay. He looked around and everyone else seemed to be okay, too, even though they were hurting.

“Shit…” Louis muttered as he glanced at the sphere that had shattered in pieces beneath his thigh.

Liam was near him, shaking ice from his hair. “It’s okay, Lou… we’ll figure out another way to clear our names.”

Louis slumped forward and threw the broken sphere against a rock. “Sure we will.”

“Everyone alright?” Paul asked.

“I guess,” Harry sighed. “Zaynie’s not doing too good, though.” He was sitting next to Zayn and helping him sit up. Zayn’s eyes were half-lidded and unfocused.

“I’m just… tired,” Zayn quietly murmured.

Niall walked up to him. “Zayn… that was real brave of you to go alone--but stupid.”

Zayn half smiled. “I know. I’m sorry. Everyone… I should have told you what I was planning. Maybe… it wouldn’t have come to this.”

“No point in beating yourself up about it now,” Paul told him. “We have to move forward. So what’s our plan?”

Niall sighed. Everyone else was silent. What could they even do now, accused of being traitors?

Just then, Niall heard an operatic voice singing the hymn of the Fayth. “Who’s that? Singing?”

“It’s the Fayth from the temple, Shiva,” Zayn explained. “Beautiful, huh?”

Niall closed his eyes and listened.

“Wait…. does anyone else feel… like there’s something in the air?” Harry asked, perking his head up and looking around.

“Like what?” Louis asked.

Liam glanced around, then he gasped. “It’s Sin! Look!”

Everyone glanced up above them in the cavern of the frozen lake, and saw the monster Sin floating in the air near the temple.

Niall felt like he lost his voice. But Sin… was… calm?

 

_“Hey, Bressie, play that tune again!”_

_“Haha, alright Chief…”_

_Bressie hummed as he played a finger-picking melody on his small, wooden guitar._

_Niall hummed along._

 

Niall, in the present, thought to himself that he had heard the hymn before coming to Spira--it was the song that Bressie used to hum all the time. So… Zanarkand and Spira had to be connected… at least with this song...

“I think he… likes the music,” Niall mused out loud.

“Huh?” Louis questioned.

“Look at him,” Niall said as he noted how peacefully Sin was behaving. He began to truly believe for the first time that Sin really was Bressie.

Zayn glanced up and softly smiled. “Weird…”

But the peace only lasted a few seconds longer, until the Fayth stopped singing.

Then Sin came flying down towards the group and a gas emitted from the monster’s pores.

“Watch out for the toxins!” Louis warned. But he was too late.

Immediately, Niall saw the world before him warp and spin, just like how it was before he got taken from Zanarkand to Spira. He couldn’t even see if any of the others were near him.

“Aahhh, not again!” Niall shouted.


	9. Wedding Crashers

When Niall came to, he was lying facedown in what looked like… a desert. There were sand dunes all around him as far as he could see and it was warm--a stark contrast to the icy lake they were just escaping from.

Niall brushed sand out of his hair and eyes and looked around him to see if anyone else was nearby. For nearly an hour, he had to search for his friends, but once he found Paul, Liam, Louis, and Harry… it became apparent that none of them knew were Zayn was.

“What if he’s dead?!” Liam gasped.

“Don’t say that!” Louis snapped. “He can’t be... “

Paul crossed his arms. “He couldn’t have gone far… could he?”

“Well…” It was Harry who had said this, and was looking down at the sand.

Louis marched forward to Harry and grabbed his shoulders. “Do you know something, Harry?”

Harry didn’t look at Louis and answered, “I think I know where Zayn might be…”

“Then tell us!” Niall told Harry.

Harry sighed. “Okay, but… please don’t get angry.”

“Why would we get angry?” Liam asked.

Harry glanced up at Louis, who still had an intense gaze on him. “Zayn was most likely taken by the Al Bhed.”

“What?!” Louis snapped. He let go of Harry and moved to go kick an abandoned piece of machina in the sand. “Those fucking Al Bhed, always ruining everything!”

“And how exactly do you know this, Harry?” Paul asked as he came up close to him.

Niall looked upon Harry with sympathy as he saw him start to tremble. “Because… the Al Bhed are the ones responsible for making summoners disappear. And I know this because… the ones who are doing it… they’re my friends and family.”

Louis whipped around to face Harry. He was speechless, though his face reddened and his eyes were wide. “You’re Al Bhed! I always knew there was something wrong with you!”

He marched up to Harry and dug a fist in his shirt. “You did this to Zayn!”

Liam ran forward and forced Louis off of Harry with a push on his chest. “Louis, stop!”

“He didn’t do this to Zayn!” Niall cried.

Louis glared at him. “Why do you sound so certain? Wait… you knew he was Al Bhed, didn’t you?” Then he glared back at Liam. “You knew, too! Did everyone just fucking know?!”

“I’m sorry, but I hid the truth because I didn’t want you to hate me,” Harry explained to Louis. “And… I really do care for Zayn so much--I would never hurt him!”

Louis narrowed his eyes and pushed against Liam so he could walk up to Harry again and pointed a finger at his face. “This is still your fault. You could have warned us!”

“Back off of him, Louis!” Niall shouted this time.

“Don’t tell me what to do, Niall! You don’t even have any idea what’s going on in this world! Sin’s toxins… maybe you’re hiding that you’re Al Bhed too!”

Niall glared back at Louis. “I’m not! But you know, someone else who thinks the world of you has had to hide it because you’re such an asshole about it!”

Louis froze. “What do you mean someone else… you don’t even know--” He glanced at Harry. “Zayn said that he knew you…”

Harry swallowed.

Louis turned back to Niall. “Tell me, Niall!”

Niall sighed. “Zayn is half Al Bhed, on his mother’s side.”

Louis’s face turned white. “No…” 

“Oi, will you all shut up with this bickering already?!” Paul shouted. “Who cares about who’s Al Bhed or not--we have to find Zayn!  Or else what kind of guardians are we?”

Everyone looked down at the ground. Paul was right. 

“Harry, you know where to go?” Paul asked.

Harry nodded as he wiped his watering eyes. “We must be on Bikanel Island. The Home of the Al Bhed is here, I know how to get us there--that’s where they’ll be holding Zayn.”

“Let’s hurry, then,” Liam said. Then he turned to Louis. “It’s true. Zayn is half Al Bhed, but you love him like family. Now, you can choose to get over your stupid prejudice and let Harry help us save him… or you can stay here.”

Louis crossed his arms and bit at his lip in anger. “How could he... keep this from me? How could you all keep this from me?”

Liam glanced down and swallowed. “Maybe we shouldn’t have… but look at how you reacted to poor Harry, who’s done nothing but help us.” 

Harry stepped forward. “I’m sorry, Louis.”

Louis sighed. “Let’s just go save Zayn…”

 

~

 

Harry led the group across the desert using the sun as a guide, which surprised Niall because usually Harry was clumsy and seemed to be clueless about the rest of Spira’s culture--but even he had his moments of competency. And Niall never doubted for a second that he would put Zayn’s well-being above all. 

Harry was rushing at the front of the group and stopped in his tracks once they crested a sand dune.

“No…” he uttered out.

Niall followed his gaze and saw what looked like a small city of orange stone buildings--but it was getting blasted by a mob of fiends and other militant forces.

“Who is attacking us?!” Harry asked to no one in particular.

“If Zayn is there… is he safe?” Liam asked Harry.

“I don’t know…” Harry swallowed. “We need to go!”

The group ran towards the city that was under siege, dodging fire and defending themselves against fiends.

Harry was able to reach one of the Al Bhed citizens who got struck down. “Who did this? Who is responsible?"

“Yevon… Guado…” the wounded man gasped before passing out.

Harry shuddered, his face losing color. “Why… why are they doing this?!”

“Harry!”

It was a young woman who had called his name. She had ashy blonde hair and green eyes just like Harry. She rushed forward and brought him into an embrace.

“Gemma!” Harry gasped as he held her back.

“Maester Swift sent an army of fiends just to collect Lord Zayn,” she explained. “We have to go underground! Home will have to be destroyed!”

Harry shook his head. “No… what about--”

“Our family is okay--we need to get out of here, though!”

Harry nodded, then he turned to Niall and the other guardians. “Zayn will be in the Summoner’s Sanctum, it’s underground, too, and guarded by Al Bhed… but if it’s as bad as Gemma says… we don’t have much time!”

“Take us to him!” Louis ordered.

Harry and Gemma, Harry’s sister, led the way as the group fought off fiends. Sirens were going off throughout the city and the buildings were already blasted, stairways blocked by debris. It was a disaster, and Niall hoped Zayn was safe.

“Harry, what is the Summoner’s Sanctum?” Liam asked as they went down the stairs towards the evacuation site.

“It’s where the Al Bhed are keeping the summoners we’ve taken. To keep them safe.”

Louis narrowed his eyes at Harry. “Yeah, this is real safe!”

Harry shot Louis a dark look. “It was before Maester Swift’s forces got here!”

“They’d be safer if you just left them alone!” Louis shouted. 

This time, Harry turned around and cornered Louis in the small stairwell with an angry look on his face. Louis looked surprised, like he hadn’t expected Harry to actually retaliate.

“The Al Bhed never hurt the summoners,” Harry said as he stared Louis down. “We wanted to protect them.”

“Protect them...from what?” Niall asked.

“From the pilgrimage.” Harry sighed as he turned around to face Niall. “Sin keeps coming back, it’s a cruel cycle that never ends… to keep forcing Summoners to sacrifice their lives for us...just so they can put Sin down for a few years… to perpetuate this cycle of death… It must stop.”

Niall furrowed his brow. “But… we’re going to do our best to protect Zayn. Harry, don’t the Al Bhed trust that guardians will keep the summoners safe? It’s their job. No summoner is going to be ‘sacrificing’ themselves as long as their guardians protect them, right?”

Harry pursed his lips like he really wanted to say something but something was holding him back.

“Louis, Liam, Paul—didn’t you tell me that guardians are there to protect the summoner until the end, even if it means protecting them with your life? We’re going to do our best to make sure nothing happens to Zayn, right?” Niall said with a soft laugh.

Louis clenched his jaw and looked away from Niall. Niall had a bad feeling about this.

Liam didn’t say anything but just crossed his arms and looked down.

“Why are you all being so quiet?” Niall asked.

“Because Zayn is going to die!” Harry yelled.

“Harry!” Liam scolded, and Niall knew from the panicked look on Liam’s face that Harry hadn’t been lying.

Harry’s cheeks were red and tears formed in his eyes. “That’s the end! All summoners… they get the Final Aeon but… if Zayn goes to Zanarkand and gets the Final Aeon… he’ll…”

“We got to get out of here, lads! They’re still blasting this place!” Paul urged everyone onward, though Niall stood still, frozen since Harry’s outburst.

Niall felt like his heart cracked. He felt pure emptiness inside of him.

 

Zayn… the end… he was going to die…? That was the end?

 

“Niall, hurry!” Harry had grabbed him by the arm and pulled him along. 

Niall shook out of his grip once they got onto safer ground. “Wait… we can’t go any further until you explain--what do you mean, Zayn’s going to die?”

Harry ignored him and looked at the debris. “This is the Summoner’s Sanctum but… Zayn’s not here…”

The guardians looked around the large chamber, and it looked like there were a few summoners who had summoned their aeons to defend against fiends. They were now tending to the wounded Al Bhed who had defended them.

“Lady Jade!” Liam rushed forward to a young summoner he had apparently recognized. She had long, violet colored hair and was a petite girl with a kind expression to her face.

“Sir Liam!” she greeted him.

“Is Zayn here?” Liam asked.

Lady Jade glanced down, looking forlorn. “He was taken by Maester Swift… She said something about them getting married, but it looked to me like he was taken against his will…”

When Jade returned to heal the wounds of an injured guard, Niall turned to Harry and grabbed him by the collar. “You didn’t answer me, Harry… what do you mean Zayn is going to die?!”

“That’s what happens to all the summoners. When they summon the Final Aeon… it will kill Sin, but it will also kill the summoner! It’s the only way Sin can be defeated. It requires a sacrifice. That’s why…” Harry said, sounding on the verge of tears, “That’s why we kidnapped Zayn and all the other summoners in the first place. To protect them from this fate. Zayn’s sacrifice will mean nothing if Sin just comes back again!”

Everyone else was either looking at the ground or away from Niall. No one had countered Harry’s explanation.

“So it’s true?” Niall asked as he looked between Louis, Liam, and Paul. “You… you all knew this! You all fucking knew it! And… you let me go on as if…” Niall grabbed at his head and pulled at his hair. “Zayn knew it too…of course he did! He knew what he was doing this whole time… and god, I told him about seeing Zanarkand! I told him about going back to Besaid and all the other places we didn’t have enough time for! I didn’t know… I didn’t think he’d…”

“We know… we just… didn’t have the heart to tell you,” Liam quietly told Niall.

“Why not?!” Niall shouted.

“Because it’s hard for us to accept it ourselves…” Louis sighed. “Zayn knew what his father had done for Spira, and he wanted to do the same to honor his memory, his dream of a peaceful Spira. No matter how much we tried to stop him from doing it… we knew he was never going to give up on it. So we became his guardians.”

Niall shook his head. “Still… if I had known…”

“If you had known, then who would have been able to make Zayn smile and laugh so much on his journey?” Liam had asked him that question, a warm smile on his face.

Niall deeply exhaled. “It’s not fair… It’s not fair that Zayn has to die…”

He swallowed, feeling his own eyes burn with the threat of tears. Zayn, who was always so gentle and believed him about being from Zanarkand, always listened to Niall, and put everyone else’s safety above his own.

Niall thought about the time Zayn was telling him to smile and laugh, encouraging him to cheer up, and yet all this time… Zayn had been the one being so brave about everything, knowing that he would die at the end of his pilgrimage.

Niall fell to his knees and caught himself with his palms on the ground. “That’s why Zayn wanted to bring gifts to all the people… that’s why he always seemed to spend so long saying goodbye to each place we visited… and any time I talked about going to Zanarkand or coming back to the places we just left, he always just… smiled at me…”

 

~

 

The guardians evacuated with Harry’s mother, sister, and a few others, including the kidnapped summoners, aboard an airship. The crew were Harry’s friends, Josh, Dan, and Sandy. They spoke mostly Al Bhed to each other, but they could also communicate with Niall and the others. From the airship, they detonated a self destruct bomb that leveled the Al Bhed city, while Harry sadly watched through the window.

“Sorry about your home, Harry…” Niall told him as he placed a hand on his shoulder.

Harry smiled at Niall, though he was still clearly upset. “Thanks, Niall. It’s okay… we’ll find another home.”

“Do we know where Zayn is or how to find him?” Liam asked Harry as they approached the helm of the ship.

“We just have to use the sphere oscillo-finder,” Gemma told them as she stood in front of a large, glowing orb.

“What is that?” Niall questioned.

Gemma shrugged. “Not really sure how it works since it's an ancient machina… but when you want to find someone… this thing will find them…”

“Huh,” Niall scoffed.

Liam grunted, “Maester Swift is probably going to try and force Zayn to get married. I wonder what awful plan she has next…”

Louis growled, “I don’t care if we have to kill her again, I’ll do it with my own hands this time!”

“Hold on! I think we’ve done it!” Harry exclaimed after having spent the past minute furiously typing along the keys of the ancient gadget.

Niall and the others crowded around the sphere, and an image came up on the screen that looked like Zayn atop an ornately designed building. He was standing next to Maester Swift, who was apparently alive--or undead, at least--wearing an opulently embroidered white dress, meanwhile Zayn was wearing what looked like a long black and silver suit, the bright earring and jewelry removed, replaced by steel earrings and silver bracelets that looked more like shackles. His hair was smoothed back and combed so that he only had a small strand of hair poking forward across his brow. He looked groomed for a royal wedding, alright… though he had a hopeless expression in his eyes.

“They’re already getting married?!” Louis shouted.

Niall swallowed. “Do we know where Zayn is?”

“He is at the palace of St. Bevelle… the great holy city, the center of Spira,” Gemma replied.

“Then we’ll need to get there quick,” Paul told the group.

“That’s suicide,” Gemma interjected.

Niall shook his head. “I don’t care! We need to get Zayn back.. I need to tell him… that.. I’m sorry about everything I’ve said…" 

“Is that the only thing you want to tell him?” Louis asked.

 Niall couldn’t answer that right away. “It’ll be a start…”

 Liam smiled at Niall. “Then let’s get ready.”

 

~

 

As they approached Bevelle, Louis whispered to Niall, “Don’t tell Harry… but this airship is sick!”

Niall laughed. “See? Machina isn’t all bad. And neither is Harry.”

Louis sighed and then he smiled. “Well, if it helps us save Zayn… then it’s good. And Harry is… okay, I guess.”

The airship soared above St. Bevelle, another big city like Luca. From above they could see where the wedding ceremony was to take place, high up top one of the tallest buildings.

“You boys better be ready for a rough landing, we’ve got company!” one of the crewmen, Josh, called out.

Niall looked out the window and saw what looked like a dragon flying in the air next to them. And on the ground were dozens of armed officials.

Paul placed a hand on his shoulder. “You ready for this, lad?”

“To save Zayn… I’m ready for anything,” Niall answered.

“Spoken like a true guardian,” Paul remarked.

The airship was going to fly low so that the Al Bhed crew could drop the guardians down at the palace while they defended them with the firepower of the airship.

After they landed, Niall took the lead as they fought their way through the city, taking down officials and machina until they reached the petal-laden bridge and connecting altar where Zayn was being held captive by Maester Swift and her guard.

“Niall! Everyone!” Zayn had gasped as soon as he saw them.

Maester Swift narrowed her eyes, then clamped a hand around Zayn’s wrist. She dragged him up the steps in front of the official who was to marry them.

“Skip to the end of the rites!” Maester Swift ordered.

“Not so fast!” Niall yelled, and he began to sprint across the bridge with the rest of the crew right behind him.

It was like he couldn’t see anything other than Zayn, and he moved his sword instinctively, taking down anyone and anything that dared to get in his way. But sheer willpower wasn’t enough. Soon, he got cornered by officials from both sides of the corridor, and he and the rest of his group were trapped just before they reached the altar.

“Zayn!” Niall called out.

Maester Swift turned to face him. “Truly, you all are such a bother…”

As she was distracted, Zayn had reached behind his back and conjured his staff, placing it between him and Maester Swift.

She glanced at him and softly chuckled. “You could have done that trick a long time ago… you really risked a wedding to get a chance to send me?”

Zayn bitterly stared at her. “You’ve got nowhere to run now.”

“Oh, why? Because your friends are here?” Maester Swift smiled. “Look at them, trapped.”

“You can’t force him to marry you!” Niall shouted.

“He’s right, I can’t,” Maester Swift said with a shrug. “But… if you marry me, Zayn, then I will set your friends free. If you don’t… they will die. Make your choice.”

Louis shook his head. “Zayn, no…”

“Zayn, please... don’t do it!” Niall shouted.

Zayn turned to face Niall and shook his head. “I’m sorry Niall, but I won’t watch you and the others die.” He dropped his staff and it bounced down the steps, landing in front of Niall.

“Promise that you won’t harm them,” Zayn told Maester Swift.

She nodded. “You have my word, I will not harm them.”

Zayn swallowed as Maester Swift reached out her hand to gently turn his face back towards her. “Cheer up, Zayn… Your friends know how much you care about them. Now back to where we left off…”

Zayn gave her a fierce look as he clenched his jaw tight.

Niall felt like he couldn’t watch, but he also couldn’t take his eyes away as Maester Swift reached her sharp nails into Zayn’s hair and leaned in close to give him a kiss. Zayn stood still, eyes closed, brow furrowed in discomfort as Maester Swift lingered upon his lips. His hands were clenched into fists and Niall wanted nothing more than to tear through the guard and rip Maester Swift’s claws off of Zayn.

As Maester Swift pulled away, Zayn gasped and turned away immediately. Then Maester Swift turned a surly smile over to Niall and the others. “Kill them.”

Zayn’s face creased in disgust. “No! You liar! You said you wouldn’t hurt them!” 

“How dare you call me a liar? I won’t be the one to kill them,” Maester Swift said with a pathetic palm on her chest.

“Of course you're a fucking liar--you lied to the world about murdering Lady Germanotta,” Louis interjected.

Maester Swift glared at him.

“Everything about you is a lie!” Zayn told her. “You’re cruel and deceiving and… you don’t care about me or Spira’s happiness, all you care about is power...”

Maester Swift’s gaze became more angry, though a smile grew on her face at the same time. “I care so much about Spira that I am willing to end everyone’s suffering forever! Together, you and I will save Spira, Zayn--by destroying it! You will use me as your Final aeon and I will become the next Sin--and then I will end your suffering, too!”

Zayn stepped back, horrified look on his face. Then he took the opportunity to run and jump onto the balcony, edging backwards. “You still need a living, breathing summoner to do the Final Summoning. So if I were to step off this ledge...” 

“You wouldn’t…” Maester Swift said, though she looked a bit uncertain herself.

Zayn brought the back of his hand to his mouth and he wiped off the red lipstick that had stained his lips. Then he shot a glare at Maester Swift. “Wanna bet?”

“Zayn!” Niall cried out.

“Don’t worry, Niall,” he said with a smile. “I can fly.”

 “Huh? What the hell are you saying?”

“And in return for your life... what do you ask of me, Zayn?” Maester Swift asked.

“Let my friends go,” Zayn calmly told her.

“I can’t do that.”

“Then I guess I’ll have to fly,” Zayn said before clasping his hands at his chest and leaning backwards.

“Zayn, no!” Niall cried. The guards were too stunned at Zayn’s actions to stop him from running up to the balcony. Niall leaned over the edge and watched as Zayn gracefully fell, and then in a flash of light Valefor appeared, catching Zayn on her chest.

Niall grinned. “Zayn, you’re incredible! You summoned her without even using your staff!”

 Zayn smiled back up at Niall as Valefor soared away with him.

“Well… that was a bit anticlimactic,” Maester Swift remarked.

“Everyone, close your eyes!” Harry shouted as he snatched Niall by the wrist. Then he threw something on the ground and bright light emitted, painfully blinding Maester Swift and all the other guards.

“What the hell was that, Harry?!” Louis exclaimed as the group ran back across the bridge towards the real entryway of the temple.

“A standard flashbomb! Now let’s go!” Harry answered with a laugh.

“No, we need to make sure Swift stays dead like a normal dead person should!” Niall growled.

Paul scooped him up and threw him over his shoulder as he ran. “Ah, quit yer grumbling, lil’ cub. We gotta go meet Zayn at the temple. He’ll be praying for the aeon!”

 

~

 

When Niall and the others reached the temple of Bevelle, he went alone inside the Chamber of the Fayth and found Zayn unconscious and lying on the ground.

“Zayn!”

Niall lifted him and cradled him in his arms. He was still breathing, but knocked out cold and still in his wedding garb, looking exhausted even in his unconscious state.

“You risked so much to protect us… it’s our turn to protect you now.” Niall stroked the fallen strand of hair over Zayn’s eyes and let his fingers linger along Zayn’s jawline.

All this time, he hadn’t really stopped to make sense of what he was feeling for Zayn, only that he didn’t like the idea of Zayn ‘belonging’ to someone else. And now it was clear, in this quiet. Zayn in his arms, it’s all Niall wanted.

“Niall…” Zayn groaned, his eyes fluttering open as he stirred awake.

Niall nearly jumped out of surprise. “Zayn! You’re okay?”

“Tried to pray as hard as I could to get it over with as quickly as I could… Must have passed out right after, but I did get the aeon,” Zayn softly said. Then his eyes focused on Niall’s and he smiled. “This feels nice, being here in your arms. I knew it was you before I even opened my eyes.”

Niall blushed and smiled back.

Zayn frowned. “I can’t believe I married Maester Swift…”

Niall quirked an eyebrow. “I didn’t hear you say ‘I do’. Isn’t that usually required? Also she’s dead, so… 'til death do us part'--you’re already parted. Can’t be married to a dead person, right?”

Zayn blinked up at Niall, and then softly laughed. “You’re right.”

Niall supported him into a sitting position. “We need to get out of here. You’ll be okay to walk?”

Zayn blinked. “I think I might be…”

Niall helped him stand and walk, but once they exited the chamber of the Fayth, they were met with a small band of Bevelle officials with weapons aimed at them.

“Oh shit…” Niall groaned.


	10. Until the End

After getting arrested, Zayn and his group were called to stand trial in the High Court of St. Bevelle, overseen by Grand Maester Cowell, the person in the highest position of Yevon’s authority. Zayn and his guardians were acquitted of the traitorous charges after the truth about Maester Swift murdering Lady Germanotta was revealed, and Maester Cowell agreed to disacknowledge the ‘wedding’ between Zayn and Maester Swift. However, Maester Swift was not punished for murdering Lady Germanotta and was left to walk free.

“But why? She’s a murderer!” Harry protested.

Grand Maester Cowell glared at Harry. “And you are Al Bhed. You do not even belong here…”

Harry bit his lip and looked down.

“Don’t talk to Harry like that!” Louis yelled. “Unlike someone else in this room who’s considered a saint, he hasn’t murdered anyone! Or kidnapped a summoner to force them into marriage! Harry’s Al Bhed but he’s a good person and deserving of respect, unlike that snake--”

“Enough!” Grand Maester Cowell snapped. 

“Thanks Louis,” Harry whispered as he fondly gazed at him. Louis gave him a single nod of comradery.

Zayn looked pained, standing on the platform in the center of the court. “Grand Maester Cowell… you can’t just let her go! And she is an Unsent now, we must send her!”

Grand Maester Cowell sighed. “Maester Swift is an excellent example for the people of Spira to follow. Why would we take that away from them?”

Liam gasped. “You can’t be serious!”

“Summoners sacrificing their lives to Sin, Maesters serving as ministers of hope… you all serve a purpose for Yevon. To dismantle that order by removing Maester Swift and destroying her image in the people’s eyes, therefore removing hope from the people of Spira… that would truly be criminal.” Grand Maester Cowell put a hand to his brow, looking exasperated. “And already the amount of equivocation we’ll have to employ just to explain Lord Zayn and Maester Swift’s non-marriage to civilians…”

“So you’re letting a murderer walk free and urging Zayn to walk to his death just to preserve order?” Paul muttered. 

“She said she wants to destroy Spira!” Niall burst out from the sideline of the court.

“Why would I ever say that?” Maester Swift protested, also on the sideline of the court, separated from Zayn and his guardians. “I love Spira…”

Zayn gritted his teeth. “Tell me you don’t fucking believe her!” 

“Lord Zayn--watch your tongue!” Grand Maester Cowell reprimanded.

“But--”

“He’s clearly still upset about jumping from that great height… He’s hysterical!” Maester Swift added.

“You keep quiet, too!” Grand Maester Cowell snapped. Then he rubbed at his temple. “Can we just all agree to leave from here peacefully?”

Zayn slammed his fist down onto the railing in front of him. “Grand Maester Cowell--how can you abide this… this evil?!”

Grand Maester Cowell stood up. “You and Maester Swift are pillars of hope in this world. Keeping you both in your roles and untarnished in the eyes of Spira is vital. In a world that will never be free of Sin, hope is necessary. Sin will never die, therefore it is important we do not disrupt hope, otherwise chaos and despair would overcome Spira.”

Zayn sent a hard stare up to Grand Maester Cowell. “What do you mean Sin will never die, that we’ll never be free of Sin? Grand Maester Cowell… tell me that my father didn’t die in vain. That… it’s still worth it for summoners to fight Sin, to fight for the chance of a peaceful world!”

Grand Maester Cowell stared down at Zayn. “A summoner’s death is never in vain. But this world will never have peace. Death will always reign over Spira, Lord Zayn. There is no stopping the cycle.”

“You can’t be serious… my father wouldn’t have supported this!” Zayn protested.

“Leave and continue your pilgrimage, Lord Zayn. Or don’t,” Grand Maester Cowell said with a roll of his eyes. “But should you dare to interfere with the order of Yevon again, you will be branded a traitor and dealt with. Do I make myself clear?”

Zayn lowered his eyes, though he clenched his fists at his sides. “Yes.”

 

~

 

After discovering the corruption of the Maesters, the willingness to preserve lies rather than uphold justice... it really made Niall feel bad for Zayn, Louis, and Liam--who had all been so devoted to Yevon and truly believed they were doing good by going on this pilgrimage. Now Niall wasn’t so sure of that…

As they walked back to Macalania Woods--the only neutral place that they could travel to within a day that was between Bevelle and Guadosalam--everyone was quiet and Zayn kept his head down. He had been able to return to his regular clothes, and did as much as he could to shake the styling out of his hair, though a curled strand still draped over one of his eyes. He at least looked much more comfortable being back in his own robe and boots.

Niall didn’t blame Zayn for being so despondent. He almost got married to an undead monster and died in the same day--and his faith must have died, too, at least in part. The irony of that is… Zayn was on his way to die at the end of this pilgrimage in the first place because of that faith.

Niall could tell it didn’t sit well with anyone anymore, not now that even the highest representatives of Yevon said that a summoner’s sacrifice couldn’t stop Sin from coming back, that nothing could.

Paul stopped near the spring they had encountered the first time they went through Macalania Woods. “We’ll camp out here and head out in the morning. Zayn… you decide where we’re going next.”

Zayn gasped and looked down. “I…”

“This is _your_ journey, Zayn, and we are here to follow and protect you, no matter what you decide,” Louis told him with a soft gaze.

Zayn glanced up at Louis, and then at the rest of his guardians. “...I need some time to think and be alone.”

“Of course,” Paul told him.

“Thank you, Sir Paul…” Zayn turned around and walked down the path towards the spring.

The rest of the group decided to take a rest and either sat on the floor or on the tree branches.

Niall sighed. “So what now?”

“Zayn decides what he wants to do,” Paul told him. “No one can force him to go on this pilgrimage. And… no one can force him not to.”

"...But why would he still want to continue?" Harry asked before he sighed and slumped his head down. "Even that unpleasant big shot guy back there said his sacrifice wouldn't stop Sin." 

"Because Zayn still cares about Spira. And... he always knew it would be a long shot to get rid of Sin for good," Liam answered. "He was still willing to sacrifice himself to give Spira those few years of Calm."

Niall wanted to start biting at his nails. He didn’t want to think about Zayn dying… and even though a part of him wanted to take Zayn by the hand, take him all the way back to Besaid and make sure nothing ever happened to him… he knew it was out of his hands.

“Go check on Zayn,” Louis said as he approached Niall. “He needs you.”

“Me?” Niall asked.

Louis nodded.

“But…”

“Please?” Louis asked.

“...Okay…” Niall nodded and stood up. Then he went down the dark path towards the spring, although he didn’t know what he could even say to Zayn at this point.

When Niall caught up to him, he saw Zayn standing waist-deep in the water, his clothes still on. He was staring up at the moon, it seemed.

Niall blew a whistle. Zayn turned around, and then a slight curve came onto his lips. “Hey, you…”

 “Hey,” Niall said as he followed Zayn’s example and walked into the water, shoes and all.

 Zayn turned back towards the moon as he let his hands wade in the water. “I thought this would be easier with my friends by my side. I’ve been trying so hard to be strong…if not for myself, then at least for all of you...” He heaved a great sigh.

 “Maybe you don’t have to try so hard anymore,” Niall said as he got closer to Zayn. Then he swallowed. “They told me, Zayn… about what’s supposed to happen at the end of your pilgrimage.”

Zayn let out a sharp sigh and turned around to face Niall, his tilted eyebrows giving his eyes a deeper sadness. “So, you know…”

He didn’t have to say it. It was the one thing that no one had been talking about (explicitly, that is) during this whole pilgrimage. Niall was filled with a frustration and a sadness once again, knowing that this whole time… Zayn was preparing to sacrifice his life for Spira, and only for a temporary period of Calm.

 Niall nodded, and gave Zayn his own sad gaze. “I’m sorry, Zayn.”

 Zayn lifted his eyebrows, searching Niall’s face. “For what?”

 Niall cleared his throat and looked down. “For… all those times I talked about going to Zanarkand and beating Sin and going back to places we visited and talking about everything we’d do after… I didn’t know, I had no idea what was going to happen to you.”

 Zayn had a steady, unwavering gaze on Niall, but his expression was indiscernible.

 “And I just hope it didn’t make you sad,” Niall finished. “I’m sorry.”

 Zayn’s mouth pulled into a beautiful smile. “You didn’t make me sad. Those moments… I was happy. Niall… do you know how much it meant for me to have someone talk like that with me on this pilgrimage?”

 Niall shrugged.

 Zayn quietly laughed at that. “I really cherished those moments, so… don’t be sorry at all. In fact, I should be thanking you.”

 Niall was quiet and walked forward in the water, then dunked his head and swam a bit closer to Zayn.

Zayn smiled at Niall, and then he rested on his back, attempting to float.

“I still want to save my people and bring them Calm, but…  “

“What if you didn’t have to?” Niall asked as he shook the water off his hair.

“Huh?” Zayn asked, lifting up from his floating stance and standing up.

“I mean… would it be so bad if you weren’t the one to do it?”

Zayn was quiet for a moment. “If I don’t do it...someone else will, and it’s not exactly a fate I want for other people.”

Niall looked down. He wanted to tell Zayn to not do it, to stay alive, but he knew Zayn had a point all the same.

“Well, just hypothetically, what if you stopped here?” Niall said nonchalantly as he swam around more of the small, lake-like body of water.

“Stopped...the pilgrimage?” Zayn asked.

“Yeah. Just… forget about it and go home, live a normal life,” Niall said, noting how selfish that sounded as he said it.

“I’ve been preparing for this pilgrimage for over half of my life,” Zayn said. “I wouldn’t even know how to begin to have a normal life. And… what about Liam and Louis? What would they say?”

“They'd support you,” Niall said. “They care more about you than this pilgrimage.”

Zayn didn’t say anything, still thinking it over. They were both quiet again, the twinkling sounds of the spring, the plants, and the animals filling the silence.

“What would I even do without my pilgrimage?” Zayn asked a moment later.

“Well, we can start by traveling the world, go back to some places that we didn’t properly get to appreciate. Like… we can see the Moonflow!” Niall enthusiastically said. “And… maybe we can still go to Zanarkand--my Zanarkand!”

“And what would we do in your Zanarkand?” Zayn asked.

“Oh... so many things! It’s completely different from the one in Spira! It’s big and full of people and skyscrapers and lights and--the city never sleeps!”

“Never sleeps?”

“Yeah, and there are blitzball matches at night--”

“We could watch you play!” Zayn excitedly said as he waded closer to Niall. Niall grinned wide as he met his eyes.

“Yeah, of course!”

“And what would we do after the match?” Zayn asked.

“We’d go out! For pizza!”

“Pizza? What’s that?” Zayn sounded genuinely mystified as he tilted his head.

“What’s pizza?” Niall laughed. “You’d love pizza! It’s one of my favorite foods.”

“And there are places where they cook this food late at night?”

“Yeah! And they can have it delivered to you!”

“Wow!”

“And… we could stay up all night, till the sun comes up. That’s when Zanarkand is at its best. When the sun comes up over the water and at first, it’s red and it blends into the sky and then the whole city is lit up by the sun, all of it rose-colored and shining. I never really thought of it this way before, but it’s… actually kind of beautiful.” Niall felt sad reminiscing on his home, realizing he’d been taking it for granted all this time. “I wish you could see it, Zayn.”

“Me, too,” Zayn answered.

Then it was quiet, until Niall heard muffled sounds coming from Zayn. Niall stopped swimming and stood in the lake, turning to see him. Zayn had his head bowed, and tears were streaming from his eyes.

Zayn sniffed as he brokenly sobbed, “I can’t--I can’t go!”

Niall swallowed, it hurt him to see Zayn like this, always so calm and steady, now broken and in despair, looking smaller than usual. Niall walked closer to him… just wanted to… do something! Something to make Zayn’s pain go away, to show Zayn that he didn’t have to face this alone and that he was here for him.

Zayn was still sobbing and shaking as Niall got close. For the first time since he’d landed in Spira, Niall felt light again, like he was floating, like he could do anything—because he cared for Zayn so much, and if there was one thing that he could do right in this God—well, Yevon—forsaken place, it would be to make sure Zayn didn’t have to cry like this ever again. He wanted to see Zayn smile again, he wanted him to be happy. Because Zayn deserved to be happy and Niall would do anything to make that happen.

“Zayn…” Niall placed a tentative hand on Zayn’s shoulders and then gently squeezed. Zayn finally looked up at him, face covered in his own tears, nose rosy at the end, eyes glassy and glistening under the moonlight, still looking like the most beautiful thing Niall had ever seen.

Niall leaned forward and gathered Zayn into his arms as he pressed a kiss to Zayn’s lips. Zayn froze for a bit, then let himself meld into Niall’s arms as he held Niall’s waist and kissed back. Niall’s eyes were closed as he lost himself to the kiss, making sure to put emphasis on the embrace and briefly nuzzling his forehead against Zayn’s. Zayn swayed along with him, until they both fell into the water. 

They briefly broke away, but Zayn held on tighter to Niall, and Niall pulled him close again as they drifted through the sparkling Macalania water, smiling to each other and then meeting lips again. When they parted lips again, Niall opened his eyes to Zayn smiling wide and glancing all around to look at the magical spring. Niall smiled back and let them both drift a bit, not knowing whether they were sideways or upside down in this water, fingers still intertwined.

Zayn seemed to laugh at how they floated underwater, his teeth showing this time as he smiled. Niall let his body glide so that they slotted side by side again, and he admired how Zayn’s glorious dark hair rippled weightlessly in the water, framing his face alongside the green and blue glow. His golden hazel eyes were even more dazzling than usual and Niall just stared, entranced.

Zayn reached out a hand to cup his face, then moved in quick to give Niall a kiss this time, a bit urgent so that his teeth nearly hurt Niall. He was also tugging at Niall’s hair, which made Niall smile. Zayn was letting go of that summoner’s composure and having fun again, and Niall had missed that so much. He was glad to see that smiling face and those eye and nose crinkles once more.

They kissed for what must have only been another half minute, but Niall felt like he had been in that water, in Zayn’s arms, for eternity. At least, he wished he could be.

When they got out of the water to dry off, Zayn still had a smile on his face. He was coughing out water but giggling at the same time. 

“I almost forgot you couldn’t swim,” Niall remarked as he took off his drenched shoes. It would be an uncomfortable walk back to camp, but it was totally worth it.

Zayn softly laughed. “I don’t think we were really swimming in there.”

Niall bashfully grinned. “Not much different. If we were here longer, could give you some lessons, spend a bit more time underwater.”

Zayn’s mouth scrunched into a scandalized smirk as he understood the double meaning. His eyes were twinkling as he finally sat down, then patted the ground next to him.

Niall took a seat on the ground next to Zayn, and they were both silent as they continued to grin and gaze at each other.

Then Zayn broke his gaze and looked back toward the water. The air got a bit more calm again and Niall felt his heart decelerate to a normal rhythm once again. He could tell Zayn was still thinking about what they’d been talking about before their kiss. But there was something different about him now.

“I have to continue my pilgrimage.” He spoke with conviction, rather than the dutiful tone he had usually spoken with before. This was his final decision, and Niall knew and respected it now.

“Even though I would love to live a normal life… even if I was with you, I could never forget about what I was walking away from,” Zayn said solemnly.

“Then I’ll be with you,” Niall told him. “Every step of the way.” 

“Really?” Zayn asked.

“I’m your guardian, right?” Niall asked, smirk on his face.

Zayn turned and glanced over at Niall, then let his mouth tilt up into a smile. “Stay with me. Until the end, please.”

His eyes still looked a bit sad, but Niall noticed a warmth behind them that was new, a certain glow. The hope was back in his eyes, and Niall had a feeling he might have had something to do with it. Regardless, it was good to see Zayn smiling again.

Niall finally smiled back, letting his hand gently close over Zayn’s. “Not until the end. Always…”

They sat in silence for a bit longer, staring up at the moon, watching its reflection dance on the water. It was nice and peaceful. But they couldn’t stay here forever.

“We should go back,” Niall said, reminded that he had been sent out here to check on Zayn.... not to make out with him...

“Okay, you can go ahead first,” Zayn told Niall.

Niall nodded and got up first, shoes in his hands. Though he wondered if he should put them back on, lest everyone infer what he and Zayn were doing.

After he had knelt down and put on his shoes, he felt a hand creep up onto his back. He turned around and saw Zayn smile at him.

“Hey, I thought I was going to go back first,” Niall told him with a grin.

“Changed my mind. I want to walk with you,” Zayn said as he continued to smile, then laced his hand with Niall’s.

 Niall looked down and grinned, then he grinned up at Zayn. They both glanced away, blushing.

God, they were both still just kids, huh?

But Niall felt so full in his heart. He’d never really had someone in his life like Zayn before, someone he cared for so deeply, someone who made him act and feel more brave than he ever had to be before. And he imagined that Zayn had probably never even been allowed to have a romantic partner before, not with all his summoner training and strict rules or… the nature of this pilgrimage. This was new for him, too. And that made it all the more precious.

Maybe it was selfish, Niall thought to himself, but he didn’t want to let Zayn go. Not when they just found each other.

So he was going to do everything in his power to make sure Zayn got out of this pilgrimage alive.

 


	11. Someday the Dream Will End

Over the next few days, Zayn and his crew of guardians traveled across much more of Spira’s lands. The pilgrimage was nearing its end, and everyone knew what that meant for Zayn.

They had just taken a rest in the green fields of the Calm Lands when Liam spoke out, “So… we still haven’t found a way to defeat Sin without summoning the Final Aeon?”

Niall looked down at his feet. Zayn was lying with his knees tucked into his chest and glanced down, too.

“Maybe with the right machina, it will work…” Harry feebly offered.

Louis scoffed and sent a venomous look at Harry. “Don’t you remember what happened in Mi’ihen? The Crusaders said the same thing, and they were slaughtered—for going against Yevon!”

“They died because of Sin and nothing else,” Niall countered. He stood up. “Maybe… there is another way.”

“See, Niall’s got my back,” Harry gave Louis a smug raise of his eyebrows and Louis glared back.

“I’m not talking about machina…” Niall said with a shake of his head. 

Paul heaved a big sigh. “I think it’s about time you tell ‘em, lad…”

Niall swallowed.

Liam’s eyes widened. “Tell us what?" 

Niall looked down. “Sin… is not just a monster. Sin is… Sin is my mentor, my friend… Bressie.”

“What?” Zayn gasped.

Paul stood up next to Niall. “It’s true. I felt him back  in Zanarkand, and again at Mi’ihen. You’ve felt that connection to him, too, haven’t you?”

“But how is that possible?” Zayn asked.

“I don’t know… but it’s like I can feel him, like… he’s inside of Sin.” Niall sighed. “It’s like he knows it’s me… like he wants me to do something to make it stop. But I don’t know what.”

“When Yaser, Bressie, and I defeated Sin ten years ago… Bressie said he would find a way to stop the cycle," said Paul. "And then he brought you here. You’re the key, Niall.”

“Me? What could I do?” Niall asked. Everyone else was looking at him with a concerned expression on their faces. Everyone except Zayn, who had kept staring down.

“Maybe… we should just do this the way we were supposed to,” Zayn said. “I will summon the Final Aeon. It’s… better than nothing.”

“Zayn,” Niall gasped.

“It’s alright.” Zayn smiled up at him. “Like I told you… I can’t walk away from this.”

Niall swallowed. He didn’t want to give up. He didn’t want Zayn to sacrifice himself.

He shook his head as he approached Zayn. “No, I’ll find a way to save you. I won’t let you die, Zayn.”

Zayn took in a deep breath and gave Niall a sad smile.

“We should probably turn in soon,” Liam offered.

Louis nodded and stood up. “Sure, we can sleep on it. We still have time.” 

Niall walked over and reached his arms out to help Zayn stand up. Zayn smiled up at him, happily this time, and squeezed Niall’s hands. Niall leaned forward and softly bumped his forehead against Zayn’s, forcing a soft giggle out of him.

“Well, if you kids want to still do some proper shopping and whatnot… this is your last chance. The paved path ends here in the Calm Lands, no villages after this stretch,” Paul advised.

“Hey, Liam--they have chocobos here to rent,” Louis said with a nudge in his ribs. “How ‘bout it, wanna race?”

Liam breathed out a laugh. “Chocobo racing? Really?”

“What? Scared I’ll beat you…?” Louis teased with a toothy grin. 

Liam furrowed his brow and grinned. “You’re on!”

“Hey… I’ve never rode a chocobo--I want to go, too!” Harry added.

“Harry, you’re gonna hurt yourself!” Zayn called after him, though it was futile as he was already trailing Liam and Louis, who had started racing to the stables.

“What about you, Zayn?” Niall asked. “Wanna ride a chocobo?”

Zayn sighed and then laughed. “I mean… usually I care a bit more about self preservation--you know, not riding oversized chickens that can chuck me off their back and break my neck easy--but… if it’s the last time I can do it…” 

Niall shook his head. “No, that’s not a good reason. It won’t be the last time.”

Zayn looked at him carefully and then sighed. “Okay, well… Then you tell me, what’s a good reason?”

“I’ll let you ride with me and you can hold onto me as tight as you want,” Niall said with a smirk.

“Way to be subtle, Niall…” Paul remarked.

Niall and Zayn turned to Paul with bashful blushes, newly aware that Paul could hear them.

Paul chuckled. “Don’t worry… I won’t let on about it to the others. But if they haven’t caught on by now...” Paul just laughed again.

“Hey, what’s that supposed to mean?” Zayn grumbled.

“Thanks, Paul,” Niall told him with a laugh. Then he turned back to Zayn. “So, how about it--chocobo riding?”

Zayn rolled his eyes and grinned. “Fine… you know, your hair kind of reminds me of a chocobo, fluffy and yellow and cute. So why not?”

“Hey!” Niall protested with a blush. Zayn just giggled in response.

Niall took him by the hand and they started off running in the direction Louis and Liam went until Niall saw something that caught his eye. At one of the shops, he saw a few small guitars hanging from one of the shelves.

Niall stopped and opened his mouth. “Wow… you have guitars here!" 

Zayn chuckled. “Well… we do have music, silly!” 

Niall checked his pockets for gil. “You think this will be enough to buy one?”

Zayn quirked an eyebrow. “You know how to play?”

“Yeah, Bressie taught me,” Niall said with a grin. “Might as well get one if this is the last stop in Spira before Zanarkand, right?”

 

~

 

The group crossed the Calm Lands up to the snowy Mount Gagazet, home of the Ronso, an anthropomorphic tribe of lion-like creatures, who were followers of Yevon, and could speak like humans. After proving themselves worthy of passing through their territory, the Ronso directed Zayn and his guardians towards the path that would eventually get them to Zanarkand.

“Once we reach the crest of Mount Gagazet, Zanarkand will be just a day’s travel away,” Paul told everyone as they rested on a snowy cliffside.

Niall looked at Zayn, who just nodded in response. He looked calm.

As they continued their walk up the mountain, they came across a frightening sight along a bend in the path. Surrounding cascading waterfalls, it looked like there were statues of people in the rocks--but so many, tangled into each other! The statues melded into the rock and stretched around the cascades, where a giant sphere was suspended mid-air, resembling a water fountain. There was an eery low hum coming from these statues and they were all faintly glowing green and blue.

“What is this?” Niall gasped.

“It looks like… these are Fayth?” Zayn said, bemused. His brow was furrowed. “Usually… I only see one statue of a Fayth in a temple… but this isn’t even a temple. It looks like they’re all being summoned, but what would require this much power?”

“Hey Paul… you had to have come this way before. Was this here ten years ago?” Louis asked.

“Yes," Paul answered.

“Well, what is it?” Harry grumbled as he crossed his arms.

Paul glanced at them, then sighed. “Not sure. But we have to keep moving if we’re to get on the warm side of this mountain by nightfall.”

Niall swallowed as he looked at the stone people in front of him along the path. He reached out an arm to touch the stone, but then he felt his vision go black and the world faded from consciousness.

When he opened his eyes, he was standing back in Zanarkand on his houseboat. It was night and all the lights were on, but… no one was home. It was eerily quiet.

Niall walked along the deck and yelled out, “Hello? Anyone! Zayn, Louis, Liam, Harry, Paul!”

No one answered him, and then when he turned around, he was faced with a small boy, who had pyreflies swarming around him.

Niall furrowed his brow. “Hey… I think I remember you… I saw you right before the last match I played in Zanarkand, when I was signing autographs.”

“You saw me somewhere else, too, don’t you remember?” the boy asked. "In Bevelle?"

Niall shook his head and blinked rapidly. “You… were the Fayth?”

“That’s correct." 

“But how is that possible?”

“Look around you,” the boy said. “Isn’t this the Zanarkand you remember?”

Niall looked around him. “Yes, but… no… where is everyone?”

“Wake up, Niall!” He turned and saw Zayn conjured in a burst of pyreflies, though he faded from his vision just as quickly.

“Niall, come on…” It was Harry who conjured and faded this time.

“Is this a dream?” Niall asked aloud.

“No, you are," the boy told him.

“Huh?”

“You are a dream of the Fayth. And the Zanarkand you remember is also a dream Zanarkand.”

Niall laughed, though he was getting creeped out. “What?”

“A thousand years ago, there was a devastating war between the great machina cities, Bevelle and Zanarkand. Knowing that Zanarkand was doomed because of how much power Bevelle held... summoners and the surviving townspeople from Zanarkand decided to become Fayth, so that our beloved city could be saved, if just in a dream. The city you know and everyone in it… they were all created by the dreams and memories of the people who lived in Zanarkand one thousand years ago, summoned by the Fayth.”

“The people are all dreams? But… I had a family…”

“A family that is a dream,” the boy interjected. “Why do you think you and Bressie both knew the Hymn of the Fayth before coming here? Why is the prayer symbol similar to the sign of victory that blitzball players in your land perform? What else can explain a boy traveling a thousand years into the future, a boy who knows nothing about Spira from a Zanarkand that people can only recall existing a thousand years ago?”

Niall swallowed, his throat going dry. He felt like he was going to be sick. He shook his head. “No... you can’t be right! Wake me up!”

“That’s right… you must help us all stop dreaming. As long as Sin exists, we have to keep dreaming.”

“But why?”

“Please… help us defeat Sin," the Fayth said, ignoring Niall's question. "We’re so tired of dreaming. We just want to rest.”

“You’re saying… when we defeat Sin, the Fayth will stop dreaming?”

“Yes.”

 “And when that happens,” Niall started.

“When that happens, you will disappear,” the Fayth finished.

Niall swallowed and felt himself shake and sweat, even though he was arguably dreaming right now--how would that even work if he was a dream?!

He couldn’t handle this, he didn’t want to believe it.

But he knew… he knew deep down that this Fayth was telling the truth.

He was a dream.

“You and Bressie have both been touched by Sin. You two are special, more than just dreams now. And maybe now...you are the key, Niall.”

Niall gritted his teeth. “I wish everyone would stop saying that! I don’t know what I’m doing! I don’t know how to defeat Sin! And I just… I just want to save Zayn…” he said, feeling tears well up in his eyes.

“Then that may be enough to save us all.”

Niall’s vision began to turn white and Zanarkand became shrouded in light until it blacked out once more. 

“Niall! Niall, are you okay?”  The dream Zanarkand had faded and Niall woke up resting on Zayn’s knees. He blinked open his eyes and saw Zayn staring at him, sitting and shivering on the snow. 

“You passed out,” Harry added. “You were out for a real long time, too…”

“I…” Niall didn’t even know how to explain what happened. He couldn’t. Zayn looked so worried.  “I don’t remember anything, just blacked out.”

“Well, we should keep on going. You feel okay to go on?” Liam asked. He was kneeling down, hovering over Niall, too.

Niall nodded. “Mhmm!”

Zayn helped him stand up, keeping a hand on his wrist. “You sure you’re okay?”

Zayn was looking at Niall with such a focus, he felt like he could see through him. NIall smiled at him the brightest he could. “Better than ever!”

“Good.” Zayn shortly smiled, then he released Niall.

Niall felt awful for lying to him.

 

~

 

“So we’re finally here. Zanarkand,” Paul announced.

 When the group emerged over the crest of the mountain and traveled down near the coast they could see that Zanarkand was in ruins. The buildings that Niall recognized were crumbled and fallen, half sunken in the water. It was sad, but it was still kind of beautiful. A gentle mist had overcome Zanarkand and the light of the afternoon sun made everything an orange and pale rose color.

“The great machina city that has been dead for a thousand years…” Zayn softly said as he overlooked the scene.

Niall felt his heart sink. Knowing the truth… knowing his Zanarkand was all just a dream, that _he_ was just a dream… it saddened him. And yet it brought him peace. 

Everything was starting to finally make sense. Maybe he was here because he was the only one who could help end the Fayth’s dream. Bressie must have figured that out ten years ago. Maybe that’s why he wanted Niall to come to Spira.

Zayn had taken a deep breath and exhaled. “It’s time to finish this pilgrimage.”

“Time to finish my story…” Niall said.

Zayn sent him a soft look. “You mean _our_ story.”

Niall smiled.

“Zayn… are you sure you want to go through with this?” Louis asked.

Zayn looked at Louis, then gave him a short smile. “Yes. After all, we made it all this way.”

Paul came up to both Zayn and Louis. “When I came here before, all throughout my journey, I was sure of myself, never wavered. But once I crossed over this mountain, once I thought to myself that Yaser was going to summon the Final Aeon, fight Sin, then die… I started to doubt.”

“Really, Sir Paul?” Liam asked. “I mean.. That’s normal, right, even for a legendary guardian!”

Paul chuckled. “I was no legendary guardian. I was a young man, just like you all… a young man who tried to change the world, but didn’t change anything. That is my story.”

Niall crossed his arms. “Well your story is not over yet!”

Paul glanced at him, and then warmly smiled.

“Well, with you all by my side… I’m ready,” Zayn said.

The group walked down to the first of Zanarkand’s isles and rested at a cove, setting up a fire between them as they camped for the night.

Zayn and Niall stayed up later than the others. Niall saw him sitting with his knees up, staring at the night sky that was additionally illuminated by pyreflies floating all along the water.

“There are so many memories here preserved in the pyreflies,” Zayn said after Niall sat down next to him. “So many pilgrimages that have come to an end…”

“And the dreams of the people that once lived here…” Niall added in a low voice.

“Hmm?”

“Uh… nothing.” Then he breathed in deep. “You know, someone should tell our story one day. So much has happened...”

“The end came quicker than I thought it would,” Zayn wistfully sighed. “But I suppose… there may never be enough time to prepare for this. I wonder what my father was feeling when he came here.”

Niall smiled at him. “It’s going to be okay.”

Zayn stared at him, tilting his head. “You sound so sure.”

Niall giggled and then smiled at him. “I guess… I feel sure.”

Niall was used to handling anxiety and stressful situations by putting on a smile and acting like nothing was wrong. Most of the time, that worked. Only… he’d never had to deal with the anxiety of realizing he wasn’t actually a real person and knowing he would cease to exist once Sin was defeated.

But… somehow,  being positive about it wasn’t that hard. He guessed that...yeah, it sucks that he will disappear if Sin dies. But that means if all he has to do to save Zayn is give up his own existence… he'll do it gladly.

Zayn was still staring at him. “Are you… feeling okay with all of this?”

Niall glanced down. “Yeah… I am.” 

Zayn swallowed. “I don’t know why I have this strange feeling… I’m scared for you.”

Niall smiled and shook his head. “Don’t be. Remember what I told you--I’ll be with you every step of the way.”

Zayn nodded, and then smiled. “That’s right. You’re my guardian. You have to stay with me--unless I fire you.”

Niall softly laughed. “I didn’t agree to stay with you as a guardian, Zayn. I wanted to stay with you as… well… as just me.”

“I know,” Zayn whispered. Then he leaned so that his shoulder rested against Niall’s.

Niall shifted and wrapped an arm around him, letting Zayn lean his head onto his chest. They sat in silence, looking at the stars and the sea.

Niall felt bad about keeping the truth from Zayn. But there was no way he could tell him that he was a dream of some random Fayth from Zanarkand, and that he would disappear once Sin was defeated. If he told Zayn that… he didn’t know what would happen, but he knew how much pain that might put Zayn through.

It was a new feeling, but a really nice one, to know how his lack of presence could affect someone else. That someone else could have those feelings for him, that Zayn—wonderful, brave, and gentle Zayn—could have those feelings for him in return.

It made Niall happy, in a bittersweet way.

 

~

 

As Zayn and his crew traveled across the ruins of Zanarkand to the ancient temple the next day, they passed so many pyreflies that evoked images of past summoners’ final moments before reaching the temple. One of these memories was from Lord Yaser and his guardians.

 

_“Yaser… Is it really worth it?” a young version of Paul asked._

_“Yes, Paul, it’s worth everything if I can give Zayn a safe world,” answered a man in robes who had hair like Zayn’s, and was wearing similarly brilliant colors._

" _But…”_

_“Please understand, Paul.”_

_“It’s his choice now, Paul,” Bressie told Paul as he clapped a hand on his shoulder._

 

“Whoa! Paul… you didn’t want Zayn’s father to do it?” Louis gasped. 

Paul shook his head. “It didn’t matter what I wanted. Let’s press on.”

Zayn stared at him with worry, but he turned and continued on until they reached the Hall of the Final Summoning. What should have been a Fayth in the ground was gone, and it was only the memory of an old Maester that alerted them to go on through the next passage.

“But if there’s no Final Aeon, how is Zayn going to even do the Final Summoning?” Liam asked with his arms crossed.

“Lady Yunalesca will guide you to the Final Aeon,” the ghost of the Maester replied. “The Summoner and the Final Aeon will then join powers to defeat Sin.”

Zayn nodded. “Guess there’s only one way we need to go now, guys…”

They walked into a chamber where a woman with silver hair walked down a staircase, encircled by pyreflies. It was the same woman they saw in Maester Swift's sphere of ancient Zanarkand.

“Welcome to Zanarkand. I congratulate you, summoner, for completing your pilgrimage.”

Zayn nodded. “Lady Yunalesca, thank you.” 

Lady Yunalesca smiled and went on, “Now I shall grant you what you seek, the Final Summoning. Choose now, Lord Zayn, which of your guardians I must change. Which of these will you choose to become a Fayth for the Final Summoning?”

Everyone gasped. They hadn't been expecting this.

Lady Yunalesca continued, “Your Final Aeon must be someone you share a deep bond with. As I chose my husband, you may choose a lover, a family member, a friend… if the light of your bond is strong enough, then it will defeat Sin. And then… when you call upon your Final Aeon, you will receive the ultimate liberation, death.”

Niall looked towards Zayn, who was starting to look anxious.

Before Zayn could make a reply, a pyrefly memory consumed the entire chamber.

 

_“Bressie, no!” young Paul yelled._

_“If I become the Final Aeon… I can stop the cycle. I’ll find a way…” Bressie calmly told him._

_“It’s not worth sacrificing both of your lives! Please!”_

_“But there is a chance the cycle can end. I have to take that chance for Zayn,” Yaser replied._

_Bressie shook his head as he smiled at Paul. “It’s not like I have a life or family here, and I’m not getting back to my Zanarkand, back to Niall, ever again. So...if I become Sin, maybe I can finally go back. Even if I have to go back as a ghost.”_

_“Paul, make sure Zayn grows up outside of Bevelle,” Yaser told him. “I want him to grow up in peace, away from the conflict. Maybe that nice little island, Besaid?”_

_“You think you can watch over little Niall, too?” Bressie asked. “If you somehow find a way to my Zanarkand… when he grows up, and when I’m… a monster… bring him here. He’ll know what to do.”_

_“You can’t be asking this of me…” Paul said as he slumped his head down. “But yes… I’ll do it.”_

_“Bressie, thank you. For everything," Yaser told him._

_“Of course, Yaser. Thank you," Bressie returned._

 

The memory faded and Paul in the present had his head down, then slashed angrily at the image of his young self that was fading. “Yaser was wrong… the cycle continued!”

“So Bressie became Sin... because all Final Aeons become Sin?” Liam asked.

Zayn swallowed as he looked to each of his guardians. “My father had to choose a guardian to become the Final Aeon… I thought when Maester Swift said that she would become the next Sin, she was just exaggerating… But I can’t do that! I can’t do that to any of you!”

Niall placed a hand on Zayn’s shoulder. “Maybe we won’t have to. Remember what Bressie said? He said he’d find a way to stop the cycle… Maybe things will be different now that I’m here. We can ask Lady Yunalesca.”

Lady Yunalesca had disappeared from the chamber once the memory had faded. She was likely on the other side of the door at the top of the stairs.

Zayn looked at Niall with wide eyes. “But what if things are not different?"

“Then we’re not going to let you die just to perpetuate another cycle of death!” Louis responded.

“And none of us are going to become Sin!” Liam said with another hand on Zayn’s shoulder.

“We’re here to support you, Zayn, so let’s go!” Harry encouraged.

Zayn smiled and carried on forward, shoulders back and fists to his side. As they walked up the stairs and onto what looked like a garden terrace, they faced Lady Yunalesca.

“Have you made your decision? Which guardian do you choose?”

Zayn cleared his throat. “Just answer me one question, please.”

“Yes.”

“If I summon the Final Aeon, even with the Final Summoning… will Sin come back? Is there another way to defeat him without sacrificing myself and a guardian?”

Lady Yunalesca bowed her head. “There is no other way. Sin is eternal. The Final Aeon becomes the next Sin, and the cycle is reborn. You must bring the Calm and save your people until the next Sin emerges.”

Just then, another memory appeared in front of them. It was young Paul, facing off with Lady Yunalesca, brandishing his broadsword.

 

_“There has to be a way to bring Bressie back, to stop this cycle!” Paul shouted._

_“There is not.”_

_“Then I’m going to stop the cycle here, in Zanarkand!” Paul rushed towards Lady Yunalesca._

_“Foolish man, don’t you know your own limit?!” Lady Yunalesca raised her arm and cast a spell that struck Paul down. He did not stir after landing facedown._

 

Niall gasped. “Paul… you… you’re…”

“When Yaser died, I couldn't bear it, the injustice of it all... I wanted to make things right with Bressie, at least, so I came back here…” Paul said as he looked down, then he glanced up at Zayn. “I’m sorry I wasn’t able to take you to Besaid myself, Zayn…”

Zayn glanced at Paul with a sad expression. “It’s okay…”

“You killed him?” Louis asked Lady Yunalesca.

“He wanted to stop the cycle, to destroy everything Yu Yevon had built. He would have destroyed the hope of Spira,” Lady Yunalesca calmly explained.  
  
Niall glared at her. “How could you…”

Lady Yunalesca ignored them. “Lord Zayn, you must choose a guardian to become your Final Aeon. Who shall it be?”

Zayn glanced down, then he slowly shook his head.

“What’s this?” Lady Yunalesca gasped.

Zayn raised his head and sent a fierce stare to Lady Yunalesca. “I choose no one! I would have happily died to save my people if it meant the end of Sin. But not for false hope. And not if that means sacrificing one of my guardians to turn into a monster! ”

“It is your duty. Choose your guardian, now.”

“I will not!” Zayn shouted.

“You would rather keep your people suffering in sorrow to save your friends? Don’t you want to relieve Spira’s pain?”

Zayn edged forward and raised a fist to his chest. “I would rather have my people know the truth. Not follow a false tradition that only covers up the sorrow with lies! I will defeat the people’s sorrow… some other way... I’ll find it, because I know that’s what my father would have wanted!” Niall had never seen Zayn so full of confidence and gumption. His eyes were sparkling with it. “I will not give up my life! I will fight sorrow and be strong, and stand my ground. I will save my people and I will do it without false hope.”

“Then I shall relieve you of your pain!” Lady Yunalesca growled.

She engaged Zayn and his guardians in a fierce battle that had everyone fighting to their last breath. Miraculously, they were able to overpower her and Zayn was able to send her to the Farplane. Once the ground stopped shaking and the howling of  Lady Yunalesca’s spirit subsided, the group was able to recover and take a breath.

“Well, we just killed Yunalesca, legendary first summoner to defeat Sin. And now… there is no more Final Aeon for anyone ever. Ha… do we have a plan now, fellas?” Louis asked with a grin.

Zayn had a look of resolve on his face. “We will find another way to save Spira…”


	12. Never Forget

 

After the group left the temple in Zanarkand, they were reunited with the Al Bhed airship Fahrenheit, that was waiting for them just outside.

As they walked through the ruins towards the airship, Niall placed a hand on Paul’s arm. “Paul… before we go forward… you need to explain a few things.”

Everyone stopped and looked at Paul, who sighed and looked away from Niall. “I know… you’re angry with me.”

Niall frowned. “Not really… but if you knew the truth, that it had to be a guardian who becomes the Final Aeon and the next Sin… why wouldn’t you tell us? Well, why wouldn’t you tell Zayn at least?”

Paul looked at Zayn. “I’m sorry, Zayn. I just… didn’t want you to lose hope and I thought it was something you needed to discover on your own, like your father before you. If I had told you, would it have stopped you from coming here?”

Zayn stared at Paul then slowly shook his head. “No… I think I would have come here anyway, tried to find a way to stop it, just like you.”

Paul breathed in deep and then sighed. “I’m glad to hear that.”

Zayn smiled. “You’re… Unsent, aren’t you Paul?”

Paul nodded as he dropped his head down. “Yeah.”

Zayn took in a deep breath through his nose. “Well… I’m glad you decided to stick around.”

“We all are,” Harry told Paul with a grin.

Paul smiled at all of the boys. “Augh, enough with that! Let’s get on board that airship!" 

Once on board, the team had to strategize about what to do next, now that there was no option to do a Final Summoning.

“If only we could find a weakness of Sin… some way to do a type of sneak attack since attacking him head on is not an option...” Louis thought out loud.

“But… there is!” Niall said.

“Huh?” Everyone turned to him.

“Remember in Macalania… when Sin was listening to the Hymn of the Fayth and he was calm… well, Bressie used to hum that tune all the time, played it on his guitar. Maybe… he’s in more control when he’s listening to it.”

“So… you’re suggesting we just play some music for him and the beast will lie down?” Harry asked.

“It may actually work… Bressie was always humming the hymn when he felt anxious. Calmed him down…” Paul said.

“This is fucking mental,” Louis remarked.

“Which is why it may actually work,” Zayn said with a grin.

“There’s like a loud speaker on this airship, right?” Niall asked Sandy.

“Uh… yeah…” Sandy replied.

“Well, Zayn--you have the most beautiful voice I’ve ever heard,” Niall told him. “If you sing and I play guitar and we amplify the sound… and we get Bressie to come to us… surely that would give us an opportunity.”

Zayn nodded. “Sure, we should try it!”

Liam sighed. “But then what do we do after that? We still don’t know how to defeat Sin… the strongest machina wasn’t able to pierce his armor.”

Niall bit at his thumb. “Maybe… we should talk to someone who knows more about this…”

“Like who?” Zayn asked.

“What if we spoke to a fayth… that fayth in Bevelle… he’ll know something!” Niall suggested.

Harry quirked an eyebrow. “You really think so?”

“Yes, you’re right, Niall…” Zayn agreed. “Let’s go!"

~

 

When they reached Bevelle’s temple, they were intercepted by Grand Maester Cowell, who was not so happy to see them.

“Infidels! You have ruined everything!” Cowell snapped. “Spira will fall… now that you have destroyed the only means of piercing Yu Yevon’s armor!”

“What do you mean, Yu Yevon’s armor?” Zayn asked.

“Yu Yevon is the one responsible for Spira’s spiral of death! He is the one who shrouds himself in unholy armor that he crafts with the souls of the dead, an armor called Sin! And now that he is invincible, I will not wait to watch Spira die…” Before they could get any more answers out of Grand Maester Cowell, he disappeared in a burst of pyreflies.

“He was an Unsent?!” Liam gasped.

“Well… I’m not surprised… Everyone is these days…” Louis scoffed as he turned an eye towards Paul.

“So… we have to defeat Yu Yevon now?” Niall asked. “Isn’t he like… the guy you all worship?”

“Seems like it…” Paul told him. “We need to find out more, though.

“Let’s talk to the Fayth,” Zayn told Niall. Niall nodded back, and then they both made their way to the chamber of the Fayth, the little boy that Niall saw in his dream up on Mount Gagazet.

“Hello,” the boy greeted them, floating in a ghostly form above the statue of the aeon.

“Thank you for your aeon. Bahamut is great!” Zayn cheerfully told the Aeon.

“Please… can you tell us how we can defeat Yu Yevon?” Niall asked.

The boy smiled. “So you’ve found out who you must finally defeat to stop the cycle…”

Zayn clasped his hands together. “What must we do to stop him?”

The boy answered, “Yu Yevon was a summoner in Zanarkand, long ago. He is neither good, nor evil. He is awake, yet he dreams, but maybe not forever. He only lives for one purpose now: to summon.” 

“What is he summoning?” Zayn asked.

“The dreams of the Fayth. And as long as he continues to summon, they will all continue to dream… and Sin will continue its path of destruction to absorb more souls to add to his armor. The cycle must be stopped. Even if you defeat Sin with the Final Summoning, Yu Yevon still lives. He merges with the Final Aeon and they become Sin, until the next aeon comes, and then the next.”

“So that’s how the cycle continues…” Zayn said.

The Fayth nodded. “Yu Yevon lives inside Sin. That is where you must battle him. Please, Zayn… please call upon all of your aeons to help you in your fight. You won’t be able to defeat him without us.”

“I promise I will,” Zayn told him with a nod. “But… tell me one thing.”

“Of course.”

“If you knew all this time… that the Final Summoning was futile… that it was really Yu Yevon that we should defeat… Why did you never tell any summoner before me?”

“Because no summoner before you ever took the time to question it,” the Fayth replied.

Zayn gasped, then turned to Niall.

Niall grinned. “See, questioning things is good!”

Zayn sadly smiled. “I wish… we weren’t the first ones to do it, though…”

 

~

 

Later that night after they returned to the airship, the group decided to set up a plan for the next day, and then a small celebration was held, at Harry’s request.

“Well… if this is our last night before the big do-or-die showdown, might as well have a party right?” Harry drawled as he drank what appeared to be alcohol out of a glass.

Louis raised an eyebrow. “You know, for once, Harold… You and I are on the same wavelength. And this Al Bhed concoction isn’t half bad!”

Harry grinned at Louis as they clinked glasses together. 

“Our last night…” Liam started off with a frown.

“Liam, don’t make that face…” Louis told him with a stare. “We’re all getting out of this alive. Here, have a drink!” He pushed a glass towards his mouth and Liam glared at Louis.

Niall grinned, though he had to force it a bit, knowing that he was going to disappear once the Fayth stopped dreaming.

Paul grunted, “Well, I’m already dead, so I’m going to bed.”

“Oh, Paul… don’t be such a party poop!” Harry complained.

“How do you even sleep when you’re dead?” Liam asked.

“I’m an Unsent… it’s a little different,” Paul chuckled before he headed to his room.

Zayn softly laughed. “Let him do what he wants!” Then he turned to Niall. “So… I thought maybe you could play me some guitar.”

Niall smiled at him. “Yeah, of course! Let’s go somewhere quiet, though…”

“Oi! Where are you two going?” Louis called. “Remember what I told you, Niall--don’t get any ideas!”

Niall chuckled. It was a bit too late for that now…

“Let them go,” Liam told Louis with a grin.

“That’s weird hearing that from you!” Louis replied, and Niall would have liked to hear more if he and Zayn weren’t already on their way to Niall’s room so he could get his small wooden guitar that he bought in the Calm Lands.

After he and Zayn sat down on his bed, Niall tuned the guitar and started to play a little melody, getting used to the feeling in his hands again. Then he felt a gentle hand come over his, stopping him.

“Hey, Niall… you can tell me anything, you know,” Zayn told Niall, blinking his long eyelashes at him.

“I know,” Niall said with a smile.

Zayn had a sad look in his eyes. “Niall, please… There’s something you’re not telling me, isn’t there?”

Niall lost his smile and then took one of Zayn’s hands in his. Zayn glanced up quickly and Niall thought he could see his cheeks blush.

“Are you scared?” Niall asked him.

“Not if I’m with you,” Zayn answered. “But if something were going on… you’d tell me, right?” 

Niall glanced down and sighed. He couldn’t tell Zayn… not yet. “I don’t know what is going to happen… I guess I’m only scared if we get separated because… we just found each other.”

Zayn smiled at Niall. “Well, in that case, all we have to do is whistle, right?”

Niall softly breathed out a laugh. “Right.”

Zayn leaned forward and cupped Niall’s face, letting his fingertips stroke up his hair. He had such an intent, interested gaze on Niall, it made him feel happy and nervous at the same time. Zayn had a way of really looking at things… looking into their soul, probably.

Then Zayn moved quickly and pressed a kiss to Niall’s lips. When he pulled away, he was blushing. “Sorry! Just… wanted to do that.”

Niall let his mouth hang open as he grinned. “Of all the things in this world to be sorry about!” Then he boisterously laughed.

Zayn giggled. “Sorry, I’m just… not used to this!”

“Well, this is kind of new for me, too… but I think… you shouldn’t be saying sorry so much,” Niall said with a raise of his eyebrow.

“Oh, sor--I mean… yes, you’re right,” Zayn awkwardly replied.

Niall burst out into another laugh. Then he stroked Zayn’s hand with his thumb. “This has been kind of a long, strange journey and it’s a little scary thinking about tomorrow, but… I’m so happy I met you, Zayn.”

Zayn smiled. “I’m so happy I met you, too, Niall.”

 

~

 

The next day, Zayn and Niall went up to the spacious, colorfully designed deck on top of the airship and Sandy, Josh, and Danny helped them get set up with amps and microphones. Back at the temple in Bevelle, the group was able to convey a message to a high-ranking supporter of Lord Zayn who would relay the message to all of Spira: “a ship in the sky will be singing the Hymn of the Fayth. When you hear it, sing along.”

“Be careful, you two,” Paul told Niall and Zayn as they set up.

“We will be,” Niall cheerfully answered. He was standing with the guitar slung across his waist, a makeshift strap designed by Harry.

Zayn gazed over at him with a grin. “You know, maybe in another life… we could have been traveling musicians…”

Niall smiled. “Haha, yeah wouldn’t that be something!” Then he turned serious. “You ready, Zayn?”

Zayn nodded. “Ready as I’ll ever be.”

Niall nodded back. Then he turned to his guitar and began to fingerpick the soft melody that Bressie used to play, letting it ring out into the sky.

Then Zayn took the microphone close to his lips and began to sing. Niall didn’t think he’d ever heard or seen him get so passionate while singing the hymn, his brow furrowed  in concentration as his eyes were closed. It brought chills to Niall’s spine and all the hairs on his arms were raised, but he had to continue to focus on his guitar playing.

Zayn belted out a lingering high note, letting it ring and echo in the air. Then just a few seconds later, they could hear the echoes of a massive chorus singing the Hymn of the Fayth from below on land. Shortly afterwards, the ship was met with the shadow of something massive in the sky. It was Sin.

Niall had never gotten a completely good look at Sin before, but now he could see just how massive it was--probably almost as big as that stadium in Luca, definitely way bigger than the airship they were perched on.

“There he is!” Louis gasped.

“He’s actually calm... “ Harry remarked.

“So how do we get inside him?” Liam asked. “I mean… if we can’t get in through the mouth, then…”

“Then we’ll have to rip him a new one!” Louis shouted out with fervor, leading to Liam’s mixed dismay and amusement.

“Now, we have to find a weak point--there!” Paul said as he pointed just under what looked like Sin’s shoulder. It looked shiny, unlike the hard shell of bumpy skin he was covered in.

Liam, Louis, Harry, and Paul got ready to launch spells and use their weapons to attack Sin’s weak point as the airship pulled up just alongside the flying monster. Sin seemed to snap out of the trance he was in after getting a blasted a bit and retaliated with harrowing blasts of his own that the crew were able to dodge.

“Keep working at it! He’s getting frustrated!” Paul called out.

“Bressie, I know you’re in there! Fight him!” Niall yelled at the top of his lungs.

After a couple more blasts, Sin appeared to slow down and the airship was able to pass him up.

“Look! He’s opening his mouth!” Harry shouted.

“Bressie’s giving us an opening--we gotta take it, now!” Paul shouted.

Niall swallowed, then looked at Zayn, who gave him a nod. “It’s now or never guys--let’s get in there!”

The airship zoomed close to the mouth of Sin and Josh, who was driving the airship, used a turbo blast to get them past Sin’s jaws and into the monster. They were traveling through what looked like space, full of mist and strange gases and lights until they landed.

“We’ll be here to watch out and get you when the fight is over,” Josh spoke over the intercom.

“Thanks, guys!” Harry cheerfully told them.

“No problem--just come back safe, Harry--or else!” Sandy grumbled.

Niall was expecting to be in the belly of a beast, all full of intestines and whatnot--but it wasn’t like that at all. They seemed to enter another dimension, a dark and misty land full of stones and mazes.

“We need to find Bressie, he’ll know where Yu Yevon is…” Niall said before charging forward.

The team followed him only for a minute before they were faced with a bright light and an accompanied cackling.

“What is this?” Zayn grunted as he shielded his eyes.

“Long time no see, Lord Zayn…” Once the light cleared, the gang saw Maester Swift smiling in front of them, looking satisfied with herself, her mouth as red as ever.

“You thought you’d seen the last of me?” Maester Swift said with a giggle.

“We had hoped,” Louis muttered.

Maester Swift glared at him. “I’ve done it… Yu Yevon has chosen me--I will become the next Sin! I will take away everyone’s suffering!”

“You have to become an aeon first, looks like he just absorbed you…” Liam grumbled.

“No matter… I have all the time in the world to learn how to control Sin from within!” Maester Swift cheerfully replied.

“I can’t tell if you’re insane or just pure evil...” Zayn told her. “But you’re definitely one thing--annoying!”

“That really hurts, Zayn,” Maester Swift said in an uncharacteristically deep voice. “You know… we never did get to have our dance after the wedding… so let’s have our first and last dance... before you die!”

“Get out of here, already!” Niall grumbled. “We don’t have time for you!”

“You will never be free of me… I am eternal, and once I fuse with Yu Yevon… I will become invincible!”

Maester Swift transformed herself into a horrifying monster form, growing bigger and her pale skin melding into an unsightly shiny purple substance.  Her attacks were relentless and her magic was far stronger than the last time they faced her. But Zayn and his guardians had gotten stronger as well. Stronger than her.

“Invincible, huh?” Zayn scoffed as Maester Swift began to fade after her defeat. He began to wave his staff and dance, finally able to send her.

“So… you are sending me… Well, I must say you were persistent in chasing me,” she said with a laugh.

Zayn scowled. “Yeah, persistent in trying to send your murderous ass to the Farplane.”

“Well, let’s not get picky about the details. See you all very soon--after you die,” Maester Swift said with a cackle before she finally faded out.

“Good, she finally shut up…” Zayn said with a relieved exhale.

 

~

 

After they defeated Maester Swift, the group wandered through more of the strange wasteland that was Sin’s armor. When they got sucked into the air by some type of gravitational or magnetic force, everything warped and changed around Niall, until he found himself lying on a platform in what looked like the blitzball stadium in Zanarkand. 

Standing in front of him at the center of the platform, with his back faced to him, was none other than Bressie. Niall remembered his tall and broad physique, his short hair, and the way he always stood with his arms crossed, like it was just yesterday.

Niall swallowed and stood up, then he looked back to his group, who had all seemed to recognize who it was.

“Bressie,” Niall called out.

Bressie turned around, his eyebrows tilted in an almost guilty expression.

“Hey, Chief,” Bressie told him as he tucked a nervous hand behind his head.

Niall swallowed. “Brez… It’s really you...”

“Yeah, it’s really me.” He took a couple steps closer to Niall. “Niall, I... “ Bressie closed his mouth and looked down. “There aren’t enough words to express how sorry I feel.”

Niall took a couple steps forward, too. “You didn’t  have control over yourself when you were Sin… I know…”

“I’m not talking about that, Chief--though I can’t even begin to be sorry for it.” Bressie shook his head. “No, I’m talking about… leaving you behind.”

Niall felt himself choke up. He shut his eyes, not wanting tears to come out. He always repressed how it made him feel to have Bressie leave. Because if he ever thought about it too much, he would break down like this.

“Niall… I’m sorry I left,” Bressie quietly told him.

Niall sniffed. “I needed you… You were the only person I could talk to when my parents were splitting up… so when you left, I had no one! I was all alone to deal with things…”

Bressie looked down at Niall. “I’m so sorry, Niall. I know. Can you ever forgive me?”

Niall wiped at the tears on his cheek. “Maybe…”

“That’s good enough for me.” Bressie swallowed. “You just gotta do one thing for me, and I know you can. You have to beat me. It’s the only way to get rid of Sin for good. And then… after that… you have to defeat Yu Yevon.”

“You mean… I have to… fight you? But if we defeat you, you’ll--”

Bressie shrugged. “It’ll be a rest. And… at least I got to see you one last time.”

Niall rushed forward and threw his arms around Bressie, sobbing into his chest. “I was so angry when you left.”

“I know… and I deserve it…” Bressie said as he hugged him back.

Niall shook his head. “I missed you, though. So much.”

Bressie squeezed Niall. “I missed you, too. Look how big you got!”

Niall laughed through his tears. “You got bigger, too. Massive, the size of a stadium!.”

Bressie laughed. Then he clapped a hand on Niall’s shoulder. “Well… are we ready then?”

Niall swallowed and then nodded.

“I’m proud of you, Niall,” Bressie said. “You turned into a good man.”

“Thanks, Bressie,” Niall sniffed.

“Now… hit me with your best shot, Chief… Let’s end this for good.” Bressie gently smiled at him.

Niall nodded just before a light burst forth from Bressie’s chest. He started groaning in pain and bent over.

“Bressie!” Niall gasped.

Then in a flash of light, in Bressie’s place emerged a towering monster that increased by tenfold the brawn and daunting figure of Bressie. It was an ugly thing that held two giant axes and possessed fierce spines along what looked like a mane. This was the Final Aeon.

“We have your back, Niall!” Zayn said as he rushed to his side, followed immediately by Louis, Liam, Harry, and Paul.

They had never fought a monster so huge and ferocious in power, apart from Sin, but through teamwork and by wearing the Final Aeon version of Bressie down, the team was able to give themselves an opportunity to defeat him.

“Niall! You do it, finish him!” Zayn grunted as he held up a protective barrier for him and his guardians.

Niall nodded, picked up his sword, and with an assisted boost from Louis, he was able to jump up and deal the final blow to the Final Aeon. The beast fell, and after another flash of bright light, Bressie was left lying on the ground with pyreflies swarming him.

“Bressie!” Niall gasped as he ran over to him.

Bressie looked up at Niall and weakly smiled. “So proud of you, Chief.”

Niall got teary-eyed again. “I just got you back… I don’t want to say goodbye.”

Bressie shook his head. “It’s alright. We have a job to finish, yeah? Take us to victory, champ.”

Niall sniffed and nodded again.

“We’ll see each other when it’s all over. Goodbye, Niall.”

“Goodbye, Bressie,” Niall said before his friend disappeared in his arms. He shuddered and sobbed as he sat on the ground, physically and emotionally exhausted.

But he couldn’t take long to cry because what could only be Yu Yevon, a dark, smoking sphere of a being, emerged and floated around the platform.

“Leave us alone!” Niall stood up and wiped his tears. Then he turned back to Zayn and the others. “Let’s finish this!”

Everyone nodded and prepared to face off against the spirit of Yu Yevon, who had stopped in front of them and transported them once more to a desolate place, knocking everyone off their feet.

“Zayn, call your aeons!” Niall cried.

Zayn stood up on one knee, then placed a hand at his chest. “Valefor!”

One by one, Zayn and his guardians forced Yu Yevon to try and possess each aeon that Zayn summoned, and the team had to battle each possessed aeon--which wasn’t easy, and Zayn seemed to feel pain after each one fell--but defeating the aeons made it possible for Yu Yevon to have nowhere else to jump to now that all of the aeons were gone.

Niall had never seen the team or himself fight with such ferocity. It didn’t matter if they bled, it didn’t matter how many times a spell could knock them down… Zayn cast great magic even without his aeons, Liam used his physical strength and his dark magic until his knuckles dripped with blood, Louis never lost his stamina, Harry kept finding ways to use his machina inventions and supported the group when they got hurt, Paul used his ace swordfighting abilities against Yu Yevon whenever he was within range while protecting Zayn. And Niall used the support of his friends and his newfound strength to strike again and again at Yu Yevon until finally…a miracle. He was destroyed. Yu Yevon faded from existence in an ugly dissipation of smoke, placing the group back into the false Zanarkand stadium.

“Wow, that was it?” Harry gasped, out of breath as he hunched over.

“He’s gone… but the armor is still here… I have to send all the souls!” Zayn announced as he got his staff ready. He began to dance and the first souls to be sent away were his aeons. One by one, they dispersed into pyreflies, echoing with sighs into the air. He said a goodbye to each of them, last of all to Valefor, his first aeon and the aeon he trusted the most.

“Thank you for everything,” Zayn tearfully said. Then he continued to wave his staff and spun to see pyreflies forming around Paul.

“Paul, you’re fading!” Zayn gasped as he dropped his staff to his side.

Paul smiled, then tilted his head. “Guess I am… It’s time to finally rest. Keep going, Zayn.”

“But--”

“Finish what Yaser started. Your father would be so proud of you, laddie.”

Zayn’s eyes were shimmering with tears now. “Paul…” He ran forward to him and gave him a hug.

Paul hugged him back. “The little summoner who could… that’ll be you in the legends now.”

Zayn smiled up at him through his tears. “Thank you… for everything you’ve done, for protecting us, for getting us here.”

“Aw, lad… you’re gonna make an old man weep…”

“Paul…” Louis quietly called out.

Paul looked to Louis with a fond gaze, and then at the rest of the party. “You’ll all be okay without me. But I gotta say… I kind of enjoyed babysitting you rowdy bunch of pain in the arses.”

“Paul… thanks,” Niall told him. “For everything.”

Paul grinned. “Be good, kiddos.”

Zayn nodded and wiped his eyes. Then he finished waving his staff and completed the Sending. Within seconds, Paul faded into pyreflies and was sent to the Farplane.

The airship had arrived just in time for Zayn to finish the last of his dance on the deck so that he could send the souls that made up Sin’s armor. It was the most skilled dancing Niall had ever seen Zayn perform, and a part of him thought that maybe for Zayn, he wanted this to be the final sending.

The souls that had made up Sin dispersed in bursts of light falling in the night sky like the glitter of a burst firework as a chorus echoed with sighs of relief. But now that the Fayth from Zanarkand had stopped being summoned, that meant they would stop dreaming.

“We did it! We saved Spira!” Liam cheered as soon as they were able to see a clear evening sky, setting up a double high five between himself and Louis.

Niall looked down at his arms, and saw that they were fading from visibility and warping into multi-colored light. “It’s time,” he whispered to himself.

“Hey… Niall… are you okay?” It was Harry who had asked and began to approach him.

Zayn turned around and looked at Niall. At that second, Niall’s body began to fade into light again.

Zayn’s eyes widened and his mouth opened, but he was speechless.

Niall swallowed. “Zayn… I’m sorry I didn’t tell you before, but... I have to go,” he told him with a half smile.

Zayn blinked, then shook his head. “No!”

“I’m sorry that I couldn’t show you Zanarkand,” Niall said, swallowing so that he didn’t start to cry. He saw the understanding of what was happening in Zayn’s eyes, the fear, the sadness.

“Wait, what…. What’s happening?” Louis asked, his eyes softening. “Niall…”

Niall turned back to him and the others. He gave them a sheepish smile. “Goodbye, everyone.”

Liam dropped his mouth open. “What? Where are you going?”

Niall couldn’t answer. He knew it was time to go, he could feel the pull from the Farplane. He turned away from Zayn and his friends and walked forward, towards the clouds. He didn’t have the strength to look Zayn in the eye because he knew if he did… he wouldn’t handle it… and that would make this all much harder than it already was.

“Niall!” Zayn cried, and Niall couldn’t help but whip around to face him, meeting a rushing Zayn who ran right through him and fell to the ground as he tried to embrace what was now thin air. Niall had already lost his physical hold on this world.

Everyone gasped.

Zayn stayed on the floor for a few seconds and Niall could feel the tears pulling at his eyes. Zayn looked so hurt. But he stood up, graceful once more, not looking at Niall.

Niall felt his heart burst and walked over to Zayn, facing him this time. He reached forward and held Zayn’s hands with his own, focusing all his energy on remaining solid, if even just for a few seconds, even though he could feel himself fading. He didn’t care if he wasn’t “real”... everything he had felt for Zayn, every moment they had together… there was no denying that it was the most real thing he had ever felt in his existence.

Zayn looked scared, tears brimming at his eyes as he looked at Niall. “Don’t leave me.”

Niall could feel tears welling up in his own eyes--how dare the Fayth tell him he wasn’t real!

“I won’t,” Niall told Zayn with a smile. “Remember what I said… I’ll be with you. Always.”

Zayn nodded, tears streaming down his face.

“Zayn, you gotta do me a favor, though.”

Zayn tried to blink the tears out of his eyes. “Sure, anything!”

“I want to see you smile,” Niall told him with his own sad grin.

Zayn’s voice cracked as he laughed, “So you’re copying me?” Then he gave Niall his brightest, eye-scrunching smile. “Niall… I love you.”

Niall swallowed, then he smiled back at Zayn. “I love you, too, Zayn.”

Then he closed his eyes, feeling tears escape the corners. But he kept a smile on his face.

“What are you doing?” Zayn quietly asked.

“I want to remember your smile and nothing else, so I’m keeping it with me.” Niall let himself fade and he felt Zayn’s hands slip through him. Then he turned around and opened his eyes, to the clouds in the sky.

He had to go now.

Niall didn’t look back this time as he launched off the deck. As he leapt into the clouds, he felt free and at peace… and eventually, he saw Paul, Bressie, and Zayn’s father, waiting for him.

Bressie had an open arm waiting for Niall to slap and clasp onto, the way they always did during a blitzball match.

“Way to end your story, kiddo,” Paul told him with a fond smile.

Niall grinned. “I guess I didn’t disappear after all. Not really…”

He closed his eyes again, seeing the last beautiful smile Zayn gave him.

“Yeah,” Niall said out loud.

“Yeah, what?” Bressie asked with a chuckle.

Niall didn’t open his eyes as he answered. “Yeah… it was all worth it.”

 

~

 

A week after defeating Sin and giving Spira the Eternal Calm, Zayn was standing at the edge of a dock in Luca, whistling with two fingers in his mouth.

Louis swallowed and sighed. He approached Zayn quietly, letting him whistle one more time. He had been doing this everyday since Niall disappeared. Sometimes, he’d be whistling for hours.

“Zayn… it’s almost time,” Louis cautiously told him.

Zayn turned around and gave Louis a sad smile, then looked back out at sea.

“I know… you miss him,” Louis told him as he looked down.

“I still feel him… Lou, I just… I know he’s still here, somehow…”

Louis sighed, a loaded gaze in his eyes. “And I believe you, but… Zayn, Spira needs its High Summoner right now.” He shook his head. “No, scratch that—Spira needs Zayn, the brave boy who saved the world.”

Zayn grinned and nodded his head.

“I miss him, too,” Louis said as he looked out at the water. “I thought… he could be like my new little bro, ya know?”

Zayn smiled and softly laughed.

“Yeah. I thought…” Zayn never finished that sentence. He used to have dreams of what he and Niall could be, but… the dream has ended. At least for now.

Louis brought Zayn into a hug, nuzzling their heads together. “Keep his light with you. That’s the part of him that can never go away.”

Zayn nodded, and hugged Louis close. Then they headed to the great stadium.

It was as full as it was the day of the blitzball tournament and Zayn can’t remember the last time he saw so many people looking so happy.

“Erm, hi…” Zayn nervously started as he approached the balcony where he was to speak to everyone from. He was the first summoner who lived after defeating Sin… more than that, he defeated Sin forever. So, the public thought it fitting that their hero say some words.

“I know that today… is something that we have all been dreaming of for as long as I can remember. A peaceful Spira. A Spira without Sin.” There was a rousing cheer at that and Zayn waited until the crowd quieted again to continue.

“I know that everyone here has experienced loss, loss of homes, of family, friends, loved ones… dreams that have faded… Which is why I’m glad to say that Spira is finally liberated to experience life again. And we will rebuild this world together!” Zayn smiled as he looked out among the crowd. “We will grow old, your children will grow old, and we will have the time to leave our villages and explore and get to know people from all over. We can have more blitzball, more adventures, more new things! But we will remember that… this peace came at a cost..”

He glanced down before continuing. “Think about the people you’ve met, the places you’ve been… everyone and everything that has given you the strength to hope and smile again—even if they’re gone now…”

Zayn thought about Niall’s smile and his laughter and how he might never hear it again—but oh, how having Niall in his life saved him. Saved Spira.

“…Never forget them and what they did for Spira,” Zayn concluded. He looked back at his crew of three guardians that remained--Louis, Liam, and Harry--and they were all looking upon him proudly.

“Today… a new Spira is born. A new life, a new story…starts today!”

Zayn’s speech was subsequently met with a roaring applause and standing ovation. Bashful, he turned to face Louis, Liam, and Harry, who came up to give him hugs and pats on the back for it.

Zayn was smiling but he felt like he was in a daze, and all he could think about were the weeks and experiences leading up to today—even with the strife, the battles, and how hopeless things seemed at times—there were so many good memories of his pilgrimage. Having Niall and the rest of his guardians with him… it gave Zayn the strength and courage to use his power and destroy Yu Yevon, to save this world.

But Niall would always be the part that stuck with him most.

Zayn would always remember how he changed after having Niall in his life: to be positive in the face of devastation, to believe in himself, to speak up, to question things, to live for himself, and to never give up on finding a way to make things right.

Niall was a fleeting dream, but he was real, and their love was real. Zayn is changed because of him. Zayn is alive because of him. And this world would not be at peace without him. Zayn can never forget that.

He looked up to the bright blue sky and he smiled. “Thank you, Niall.”

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for any sadness and/or tears I may have caused with this ending :'(
> 
> Pygmy, I hope I did this last part justice and that you enjoyed my deviations from the original FFX (as well as the original lines I just COULDN'T leave out because they were so perfect for this AU). This project was such a joy to craft over the past couple months and it made me fall in love all over again with FFX and Ziall :') (also wow I never wrote anything longer than like 500 words for Ziall because I never felt confident about it, but thanks for giving me this prompt and giving me the chance to do a big Ziall fic as my last project in this fandom)
> 
> For everyone else who read, I really hope you enjoyed this story even if you aren't familiar with Final Fantasy X! It's a sad and beautiful story not without sweet and lighthearted moments. It makes me happy (even if it makes my heart cry lol) and I hope those of you who haven't ventured into it yet take a chance to check out the original story through the movie version on Youtube or buy it to play the game yourselves if you're interested in getting more of this universe :) 
> 
> Thank you for reading, and if you ever want to talk Ziall or FFX, just send me a message at fiveofhearts.tumblr.com!


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